2012 story: Architect plans to add ‘layer of sophistication’ to UTEP campus design

UTEP’s new director of planning and construction is a Renaissance man – poet, artist, musician, philosopher, and architect – known for his energy and outside-the-box ideas. Despite its nearly 100 years of history, The University of Texas at El Paso campus is a work in progress to Nestor Infanzon.

The Puerto Rican native, who earned his architectural degree at Texas A&M, has spent the better part of 40 years designing and overseeing multimillion-dollar projects around the world for heavyweight international architectural firms. A few of those projects were at UTEP.

When the job opened earlier this year, it drew his interest because of his familiarity with the campus and its leadership. He said the Bhutanese architecture and the terrain create a rich, unique personality, and he praised the University’s ambitious campus transformation that will enhance the spaces between buildings and make the campus safer and more pedestrian friendly.

“This isn’t just ‘Take out the cars and plant trees.’ This is a whole new ballgame. This is a cultural shift,” he said during an interview in his Facilities Services Complex office on the north end of campus. During an hour-long discussion, the self-described introvert who started at UTEP this summer showed flashes of wit, humility and passion.

“We are recreating calmness (through the transformation). It’s not just Bhutanese buildings and a pseudo-desert look. It’s that next layer of sophistication that intrigues me.”

Read the full UTEP Communications article here.