Merging Old with New
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center improves upon its historical roots

The Fine Arts Center has been the cornerstone of arts in the Colorado Springs community since its grand opening in April 1936. Designed in a unique combination of the Pueblo and Art Deco styles, the building has hosted many historic characters, including Martha Graham, who danced barefoot on stage at the grand opening.

For David Owen Tryba, whose Denver architectural firm was asked in 2003 to lead the design of the restoration and addition, the FAC is an icon of his youth. “The population of the city where I was born and grew up has exploded nearly seven-fold during the intervening 50 years,” he says. “I remember a place of inclusiveness and cultural civility, where the profile of the John Gaw Meem-designed, mid-century Modern building set atop the hill overlooking Monument Valley Park resonated with the jutting summit of Pikes Peak.
  “I was challenged and moved to play such a significant role in the transformation of a building that impacted me so profoundly,” he adds. “The brief was aligned with my philosophy, as both preservationist and architect first, do no harm.”

Community Focal Point

Photo courtesy of Tryba Architects

Since its opening, the building has become a historic place in Colorado and continues to serve the community’s art and entertainment needs. It is the home to the Taylor Museum of Art, the Bemis School of Art and now the newly renovated and named SaG_Ji Theatre.
“This building is very important to the community,” says Chris Holt, project manager for the FAC renovation with general contractor GE Johnson Construction Co. of Colorado Springs. “The idea to renovate had been in the works for a number of years. It was important to us to be involved in this project because of its effect on our home base.”

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In 2006, the FAC finalized funding and began a construction project that consisted of a 60,000-sq-ft addition combined with 48,398 sq ft of renovation, completed in August. The goal of Tryba, project architect Jeff Poorten and principal-in-charge Bill Moon was to create harmony between old and new. They reorganized the interior of the building, putting theater functions at one end and visual arts at the other, extended the long corridor that runs from east to west as a major connector and placed the bulk of the new art space far enough back on the property that the stucco-covered mass is apparent only when viewed from the front.

“The addition strives to advance the same forward-thinking ideals Meem expressed more than 80 years ago human scale and harmony with the landscape,” says Tryba. “Just as Meem’s monumental front-entry doorways demand single-file entry, forcing the visitor to rub against the craft and material of the building, so does the scale of the new museum emphasize the dialogue between individual and structure, between art and the viewer, between the new and the old.”

GE Johnson overcame many challenges working in close proximity to existing buildings, working while the facility remained open and working with building elements that were more than 75 years old.

“The new expansion maintains the basic footprint and visitor flow of the 37-year-old structure, as well as the popular interior courtyard it created, but adds square footage and larger, more accommodating galleries,” Holt says.

However, in some cases, new footings for the building were within 18 in. of the property line, which put construction in close proximity to buildings on the Colorado College campus and the American Numismatic Association.

“The challenge was to maintain the human scale of the Meem structure, while designing a new state-of-the-art museum to accommodate 21st Century blockbuster exhibitions,” adds Tryba.

Structurally, the addition extends the main facade, with a glass-curtain wall providing a soft, transparent contrast to the concrete walls of the old building and adding sight-lines to what had been an isolated sculpture garden to the east. The new design brings more lighting concepts into the building, allowing for natural light to protrude in some areas and projecting more controlled lighting in others.

“Renovations enhance the original art galleries, protecting sensitive artwork from harmful elements. The renovations also address earlier modifications, providing for more efficient use of existing space,” says Tryba.

The addition was designed to be both functionally efficient while also supplying much-needed storage and service space. In addition to the renewed emphasis of the courtyard and pedestrian plaza, the building adds new classrooms, studios, art galleries and event venues.

 “The 1936 structure, designed for a blossoming population of 35,000, orients to the West, the mountain, the park and the creek,” Tryba says. “The new museum, responding to over 10 times that population, extends a welcoming arm to the city, toward Cascade Avenue, historic Main Street, the elite liberal arts Colorado College and the city center. The new museum speaks to the same humanism and architecture of inclusiveness and outreach as the original building.”

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