McCLAIN + YU

05/01/2026

Made in New Mexico: Design Education Is Preparation, and It Is Production

At McClain + Yu Architecture & Design, early design education is not a warm-up. It is infrastructure. Through the Made in New Mexico paper, Kristina Yu and Sasha Adams argue that the first two years of studio must engage material, labor, and construction realities from the start. Modeled on the urgency and clarity of the Bauhaus, periods of constraint can create real opportunities for development.

Set within the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning, the work positions studio as a site of consequence, grounded in the economies and making culture of New Mexico. This is not preparation alone. It is production. The paper was presented at the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student in February 2026.

As this work continues to develop, Sasha Adams will begin the next phase of her academic path this fall in a Master of Architecture program at University of British Columbia. We look forward to her continued growth and contribution to the field.

04/03/2026

Have you seen our proposal for this bridge and its extraordinary setting? It is important that it continues to carry a sense of life, movement, and meaning.
We approach this work as behavioral health architects, and we see an essential layer to contribute here, one grounded in care, dignity, and human experience.

We approach this work as behavioral health architects, and we believe there is an important dimension to add to this conversation.

04/03/2026

We approach this work as behavioral health architects, and we believe there is an important dimension to add to this conversation.

03/09/2026

Looking forward to being there!
Stop by and say hello to our colleagues: and

03/05/2026

Welcome aboard, !

We look forward to your guidance on projects and to working together to create lasting, meaningful buildings with our clients and design teams across our state.

01/23/2026

Congratulations to Kristina YU on being named one of 2026 Women Who Mean Business honorees. This recognition celebrates her leadership, impact, and sustained contributions to the business and civic life of New Mexico.






DAAD German Academic Exchange Service Harvard University Graduate School of Design, IIT Architecture Chicago

11/11/2025

10/26/2025

WOW! A huge congratulations to Wendell Montgomery for his diligent efforts in becoming an architect. This milestone represents the culmination of knowledge, experience, and perseverance that form the foundation of a well-rounded professional. It is our pleasure to celebrate this milestone accomplishment with him.

10/21/2025

In light of our musings in our office about building practices and the ways communities sustain what they create, this past weekend offered a tangible parallel. McCLAIN + YU joined colleagues from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in the annual climb up “M” Mountain, a Socorro tradition of re-whitening the hillside “M.”

What appears as maintenance is, in truth, a shared act of care, each bucket of lime a gesture of commitment to place and history. In NM you all know already the community tradition of muddling or together cleaning acequias. In architecture, this echoes traditions like Kehrwoche in Germany, where residents collectively clean and tend shared spaces. Such practices remind us that design extends beyond construction; it includes the continuous stewardship of what connects us. It is our collective discipline, that which we practice.

For our team, the day affirmed that architecture’s highest expression may be found not only in making, but in caring, for buildings, for landscapes, and for one another.

10/02/2025

We are indebted to the vision of the Roesch Traveling Fellowship ( ) and the Clifford Wong Prize for Housing ), which showed us how profoundly travel can shape an architect’s education. Those opportunities expanded our perspective, reminded us that learning happens far beyond the classroom, and instilled a lasting gratitude for the generosity that made them possible. From that inspiration, we founded the McClain+Yu Architecture & Design Traveling Scholarship for Diversity and Equity, to help ensure that students who have not always been supported in this profession can also step into the world and discover their place within it.

This inaugural award is presented to Paola Edmunds, whose dedication and promise embody the spirit of the scholarship. We are excited for this beginning, and for the continuation of a tradition that will support many more students in discovering the wider world and bringing that vision back into the practice of architecture.