Gold Hard Hat Award

Outstanding Architectural Design Project

Colorado College’s Cornerstone Arts Center is a 72,000-sq-ft building designed to be a catalyst for arts collaboration and interdisciplinary work. It offers the college an innovative approach to the teaching and performing of the arts—one that recognizes that the future of interdisciplinary teaching needs strong technological support, with spaces designed to serve various functions. The architecture itself provides the potential for multiple activities to happen concurrently or in conjunction with one another.

The arts center features three floors, plus a mezzanine at the main auditorium entry. Major areas of the building include a 405-seat auditorium, a black box performance venue, sound stage, a 108-seat film screening room, the Inter-Disciplinary Experimental Arts space and a multipurpose flex room.

Exterior finishes include exposed ground-face masonry, copper siding, stucco, a glass curtain wall and stainless steel siding. The interiors have a large amount of exposed ground-face masonry walls, stained concrete floors, perforated steel railings, steel grating, perforated metal ceilings and exposed steel structure—creating an industrial look.

All of the structural and architectural elements were integrated throughout the building, increasing the construction complexity and requiring extensive pre-planning and work sequencing, which used four-dimensional models to plan and communicate its flow.

Corner Arts Center
Colorado Springs

Silver Hard Hat Award

Outstanding Architectural Design Project

The structural design and construction of the Strings pavilion was unusual in that the timber framer—Spearhead Timber Works of British Colombia—not only fabricated and erected the unique roof structure but also stepped well outside the bounds of convention through their proactive and energetic involvement in the design process.

Early in the conceptual design phase, when KL&A was just getting involved with the structural design, STW had already proposed an aesthetic concept for the roof. They wanted to help the architect, Steamboat Architectural Associates, take advantage of STW’s knowledge and capabilities in fabrication and construction. In this sense, they sought to make a seemingly ambitious structural scheme affordable by taking the maximum advantage of available technology.

The first schematic structural design altered the original concept only in the introduction of the arched central elements for the main longitudinal trusses of the hall. The king-post trusses that frame into the arched bowstring trusses were intact from the original concept. At this point, KL&A, STW and SAA all helped to make the roof structure responsive to the needs of the space and that it should resemble the structure of stringed instruments. During the later process, STW took the lead in developing 3D graphic models, working hand-in-hand with KL&A and SAA to create shop drawings well ahead of the normal process.

The forward thinking and dedication to collaboration by all parties—designers and builders—helped to create an extraordinary building on a short schedule.

Strings in the Mountains
Steamboat Springs

Bronze Hard Hat Award

Outstanding Architectural Design Project

The design for the new student recreation center at Colorado State University at Pueblo responds to setbacks from the campus loop road, the need to create an arrival plaza and the creation of a transparent, two-story main entry overlooking the campus with views to Pikes Peak.

The new building occupies a key south-facing transitional site on the eastern edge of the main campus, situated between an administration building and the student union.

The 43,000-sq-ft, two-story building adjoins the existing HPER spectator complex to the north, allowing shared use of the natatorium, racquetball courts, training/rehab and new climbing wall.

The triple height volume of the atrium enables visitors to feel the energy, activity and community at a glance, from one central space that connects all programs.

Daylight filters through roof clerestories into the main gymnasium, an elevated running track that circulates through the atrium, fitness/cardio, weight training, aerobics, multipurpose rooms and connecting free zones.

In addition to indoor intramural programs, club sports and physical conditioning, the rec center provides a health, wellness and nutrition suite; lounge/cafe with exterior terrace; an Experimental Learning Center and equipment rental checkout facilities.

CSU-Pueblo Recreation Center
Pueblo

Bronze Hard Hat Award

Outstanding Architectural Design Project

The Lundvall Office Building in Greeley was built on a knoll overlooking the Highland Hills Golf Course. Designed to take advantage of a sloping site, the three-story building nestles into the grade to present a two-story open atrium at the entry side while opening up to a three-story façade facing the golf course.

The main entry, highlighted by stone piers and an intricate open-gable timber framework, fronts onto a parking lot partially camouflaged from surrounding streets by the sloping topography and dense perimeter landscaping.

Built with a concrete foundation and steel superstructure, the building leads the way toward sustainable design in Greeley. A low-E insulated, frost-broken glazing system was utilized in conjunction with cable-supported window-shading devices to minimize heat build-up in the summer, while allowing light to penetrate deep into the building with the lower winter-sun angles. Synthetic, locally manufactured stone was used to securely “found” the building to the site and break up the facade with interesting column formations.

Special lighting effects, with uplighting on stone piers and down soffit lighting, also help to make the Lundvall Office Building a prime example of thoughtful elements crafted within an energy-efficient envelope to create an elegant and timeless design solution.

Lundvall Office Building
Greeley

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