View from Southeast

We broke ground on fifteen new townhomes — providing more pedestrian focused housing adjacent to Library Park in Old Town, Fort Collins.

Designed in collaboration with Davis Davis Architects, the carefully scaled La Vie Lumiere builds on its surroundings with a distinct yet complementary scale and material palette.

The three and four-story homes are organized around a shared courtyard, creating a quiet interior space in the middle of the urban block.

Exterior materials include brick, terracotta, and smooth plaster, all chosen to connect to the scale and texture of adjacent buildings and the neighborhood. Large windows bring light deep into each home.

Each townhome features thoughtful modern plans and volumns with an emphasis on function, clarity and connection to the outdoors.

The buildings incorporate sustainable materials and energy-conscious systems throughout and are targeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification—the highest level attainable.

We're glad we can continue to work on projects that add to the fabric of Fort Collins.

Big news!

Makayla (a.k.a. KK) Bowen, a soon-to-be graduate with a B.S. in Interior Architecture and Design from CSU Fort Collins, joined us as an intern for her final semester.

She was tasked with modeling a historic building and addition and did so with impressive attention to detail. Throughout the spring, Makayla sharpened her technical skills and learned more about day-to-day life at a design firm.

Her quick learning, eagerness to collaborate and her positive attitude made her a joy to work with—so we are going to hire her full time!

Makayla, thank you for your contributions and WELCOME to [au]workshop!

Happy New Year 2025!

The past 12 months marked the completion of projects near and far, large and small, along with historic rehabilitations and new construction. We’re excited to see what 2025 brings.

Construction is nearly complete at the completely renovated Community Center for Creativity (CCC).

Originally built in 1904 as a Library—a gift to Fort Collins from Andrew Carnegie—the library doubled in size in 1939 during the Works Progress Administration and included a public auditorium space.  The building later became the Fort Collins Museum and most recently the CCC.

More than a year of careful restoration lead by [au]workshop, Saunders Construction and the City of Fort Collins included entirely new building systems, a new elevator, refurbished windows (most of which had been covered in place in the 1970s) and a light filled open staircase.  The local sandstone exterior was cleaned and many details refurbished.  A new entry gate and a canopy were added to a much-improved accessible entry sequence.

Photos show the recent staircase railing installation.

Stay tuned for updates on the grand opening in early summer of 2024.

More information about the building’s history here.

[au]workshop is pleased to help support the Museum of Art Fort Collins by participating in the 20th anniversary masks fundraiser and exhibition. [au]workshop architect Anne Nelsen created Sebastian, the firm’s anthropomorphic contribution to the exhibition.

Sebastian began with a desire to display only the most attractive angle of the mask and to conceal (to mask!) the rest. Anne felt that a mask is most powerful when it is accompanied by someone—when it is given life or context by its wearer.  Thus, Sebastian took on his present larger than life, human-like form and stands in contrapposto.  Like all of us from time to time, the texture of his exterior strongly contrasts with the texture of his interior; that is, he is not how he appears at first. Sebastian thinks this only makes him more interesting.

Info & Links

Come visit Sebastian and see the rest of the entries at the Museum of Art Fort Collins. The exhibit will be open April 5th – June 7th, 2024. Everyone has the option to bid on any of the masks online. See the link here.

Thank you to MoA for inviting us to participate!

Follow their socials to stay up to date on MoA’s current events!

Instagram

Facebook

About Historic Preservation Commission

The commission’s role in the local government is to connect the people with the history they are living in.  They help determine historic landmarks and how to best preserve them in way that is beneficial to the community.

Anne Nelsen

As a community-rooted firm, [au]workshop places great importance on active engagement with local organizations. We encourage our staff to participate in areas aligned with their passions.  As she completes her second and final term this March, we’d like to say thank you to Anne Nelsen for her time on the City of Fort Collins Historic Preservation Commission. She served on the commission for 6 years and always went above and beyond in her role.

As a practicing architect with experience in historic buildings, Anne brought a unique and informed perspective to the projects she reviewed during her tenure.   

She continues to be an advocate for preservation and adaptive reuse in the community, as well as a proponent for widening the lens of our local history.

Get involved!

Getting involved in local government is a great way to get connected with communities and learn more about the people and places around you.

There are many ways of getting involved. You can do something as simple as receiving e-mail notifications about current events and news from your city to joining a commission/committee yourself!  

Links

City of Fort Collins email subscription and list of committees.

https://www.fcgov.com/cityclerk/boards/

City of Fort Collins Social Media pages.

https://www.facebook.com/fortcollinsgov

https://www.instagram.com/fortcollinsgov

Happy New Year from our workshop to yours!

2023 was full of projects near and far, new collaborations, and innovative urban housing schemes. Looking forward to what 2024 will bring!

We are pleased to share that one of our Habitat for Humanity projects, Lomita Homes, is included in the second edition of Designed for Habitat: New Directions for Habitat for Humanity by Auburn University professors David Hinson and Justin Miller.

Twelve design-forward Habitat for Humanity projects including the Lomita Homes were highlighted based on approaches to building scale, construction technology, energy and affordability, design and context. 

It is great to have our project chronicled alongside many other great design teams with likeminded passion for designing Habitat housing.

Our recent 10-year anniversary party provided the perfect opportunity to celebrate significant milestones achieved with our clients and collaborators!

We shared stories:  Overcoming challenges, Celebrating victories, and Embracing growth. There was laughter and even a few tears (just kidding—those were early-June raindrops!).

Thank you to everyone who joined us and enjoyed a bit of nosh, beer from our neighbors at Hello Brew Company and super-fun music by The McDailey Trio!

THANK YOU to our clients, collaborators and especially our [au]workshop staff for making the past ten years a terrific journey!

Happy New Year from our workshop to yours!  2022 was full of fun and interesting projects,

like this sketch study for an addition to an historic Colorado home. We're grateful to all of you

for your continued support and collaboration.  Wishing you all the best in 2023!