The Poudre Garage, Confluence Fort Collins, and the Butterfly Café, all designed by [au]workshop architects+urbanists have been selected as Fort Collins Urban Design Award winners for 2022 in a juried competition organized by the City of Fort Collins that tapped 11 projects in various categories from a field of 40 entries.

Every second or third year, The City of Fort Collins celebrates great places and people who design them in a process that promotes awareness of urban design and its importance for the quality of life in the community. According to the organizers, “Urban design ranges from a city or city subarea to a single outdoor space and considers the look and feel, as well as environmental, economic and social consequences of design. It is not simply concerned with new development but also with the maintenance and enhancement of existing development”.

“We are delighted to be presented these awards for work that represents the heart and soul of our design focus: Architecture that thoughtfully addresses the street, neighborhood and scale of the skyline in established urban neighborhoods”, said Randy Shortridge AIA, the design principal at [au]workshop.

The selection process starts with a call for entries and ends with a committee made up of local designers, city board members, and city staff selecting winners from the applications. The process culminates this year with an awards ceremony on September 8 at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins.

“All three of these buildings respond to neighboring historic structures or are valuable themselves locally historic. Scale, rhythms, proportions and selected finish materials are all important when designing in the urban context.” added Jason Kersley AIA, [au]workshop’s managing principal for all three award winning projects.

The Architecture category seeks, “a built building or group of buildings that...achieve design excellence through unique relationships with immediate surroundings because of the site, massing, architecture and pedestrian amenities.” according to the city’s website. Both The Poudre Garage and Confluence Fort Collins were selected as Architecture honorees.

The Poudre Garage, developed by Tricia and David Diehl, is a renovation of and addition to a historic U.S. Forest Service garage and the addition takes its design cues from the art-deco styling of the original building while carefully respecting its historic neighbors and maximizing a highly constrained site.

Confluence Fort Collins, a mixed-use building with several commercial and 26 residential units is located at the center of what was once the parade ground for Fort Collins' namesake military outpost. Co-developed by Saunders Development and [space]foundry, Confluence strives in every way to live up to its site's historic context: Sandwiched between three historically eligible properties, with a fourth across the street, particular attention was paid to the project's massing and architectural details, stepping down and setting back in a number of locations in deference to the existing properties.

In the Urban Fragments category where winners should be “a small-scale piece of a building or landscape that contributes significantly to the quality of the public realm,” The Butterfly Café was selected as an honoree.

The Butterfly Café, a 400 square foot former Poudre Valley Creamery “dairy lab” now owned by the City of Fort Collins, was moved 100 feet east to accommodate a new city building and completely renovated to accommodate a café with both indoor and outdoor seating. The mid- century “Googie” style building characterized by its geometric masonry, upswept roof and large expanses of glass is topped by a new sign similar to the original with bold colors and graphics reflecting its new use.

Anne Nelsen

40 Under Forty Honoree

We are proud to share that [au]workshop architect Anne Nelsen has received BizWest’s Northern Colorado’s 40 under Forty award!

Northern Colorado’s 40 under Forty recognizes those who represent the best and brightest of emerging leaders that make a difference in their companies, industries, and the community; Anne has absolutely achieved this.

In addition to her role as Workshop Architect at our firm, Anne serves on the Fort Collins’ Historic Preservation Commission and on the Housing Catalyst Development Committee.  She is also a member of the Colorado Green Building Guild and has volunteered with Respite Care and Book Trust - two amazing Fort Collins-grown organizations.

Anne shared in her interview with BizWest, “My desire to deepen my knowledge through diverse work has been met with tremendous enthusiasm from [au]workshop and I have grown with the support of the firm’s principals. In turn, I strive to mentor my younger colleagues.”

View of Poudre Garage looking west across downtown Fort Collins, to Horsetooth Mountain.

““They managed to design a brand new wing honoring the historic portion and its origin. We are truly pleased with how the project turned out. This building is not only an investment but it is also our personal office. It is a delight to work in such a beautiful space and we get compliments on it from clients all the time.””

— Tricia Diehl, Project Manager and co-owner

The Poudre Garage, a renovation and addition to an historic U.S. Forest Service garage building originally built in 1936-37, has received the Downtown Colorado Inc. (DCI) Governor’s Award for Downtown Excellence during a virtual conference event held last week.

The Governor’s Award recognizes exemplary commitment to the formation of projects which enhance and encourage the integrity and potential of an area. Winning projects positively impact the local community through commitment to the downtown, larger plan of the community, and overall culture and nature of the community where it resides.

[au]workshop are quite pleased that DCI recognized the extra effort that was taken to make the Poudre Garage a great addition to the street, the neighborhood and downtown Fort Collins.

We strove to make the addition compatible with the original building and context without imitating the existing materials and style.

The original building was built as a Forest Service supervisor’s warehouse, combining administrative and vehicle maintenance functions. As the building aged and USFS needs changed, it underwent a series of modifications. The art-deco garage doors were replaced with fixed glazing, and other openings were filled when the USFS converted the building to office uses, before selling the property in 1995. Various alterations made the building ineligible for the National Register, yet it retained the majority of its historic character and was designated a local landmark in 1997.

The Poudre Garage addition takes its design cues from the art-deco styling, existing massing, and materiality of the original building, carefully acknowledging its historic neighbors while optimizing a highly constrained urban infill site. A symmetrical art-deco-inspired design concept helps the addition remain compatible with the original garage, while using contemporary materials and detailing to avoid imitation and distinguish itself from the historic construction.

The project adds six loft-style apartment units to the site, increasing the neighborhood’s sense of security and walkability, and replaces existing surface parking with concealed spaces. The roof of the historic building is utilized as exterior living areas for the units, activating the building facade.

We worked closely with the client throughout the process, as the building was, and remains, the home of their business. The ground level interior was reconfigured for office and commercial uses, including the client’s offices, that activate the street. The exterior of the historic garage was also restored, with non-original storefront replaced with glazed garage-style doors that provide a hint of its former use, while increasing transparency and porosity.

The Poudre Garage also recently received a design Award of Distinction from the Colorado Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

You can see additional images at the project page, and view the awards submission here.

View along Remington street, with restored sconces and new overhead storefront doors visible.

[au]workshop is proud to be recognized as a silver-level Bicycle Friendly Business by the League of American Bicyclists. Learn more here!

We are gratified to announce that Poudre Garage has earned the 2019 AIA Design Award of distinction!

2019 AIA Design Awards

Emquartier has been recognized by the IFM as the Most Innovative Shopping Mall! 

"The IFM’s Real Estate Awards recognise excellence in the Residential and Commercial property space in emerging markets. The real estate sector is challenging and determined by a variety of external factors, demanding a mix of customer-friendliness and innovation to remain relevant. But some companies will stand out due to the quality of the products, service standards and consistency of service, by ensuring customer satisfaction and related products, including home loans. International Finance Real Estate Awards recognises those who strive to provide a relentlessly engaging and valuable experience for customers." - International Finance website

We are thrilled to hear EmQuartier has been recognized for this award! Congratulations to the entire project team! 

Feel free to see the other winners here and be sure to check out the project page!

The new City of Fort Collins Utilities Administration Building, affectionately known as UAB, has received another award for its outstanding energy conservation and green construction: the USGBC Mountain West Region 2018 Colorado Green Building of the Year. UAB was recognized during the Rocky Mountain Green conference in Denver on May 3rd! Completed in 2017, the project was a collaboration between [au]workshop and RNL Design.

You can read more from the article on BizWest, or visit the UAB project page for more information.

[au]workshop is very surprised to announce that we have been named the 2015 AIA Colorado North Firm of the Year!

At a ceremony last night in a building designed by firm members, [au]workshop architects+urbanists was announced as the award recipient as selected by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Colorado North Board of Directors.  The Firm of the Year recognizes an AIA-member firm that has contributed to the profession and has set an example in design, service and leadership to AIA Colorado North, a region that includes Boulder, Greeley and Fort Collins.

View fullsize

The presentation was made at Loveland’s Rialto Theater Center—a building designed by Brian Betsill and Randy Shortridge while with a previous firm.  The award is particularly gratifying as [au]workshop, founded in Fort Collins by Shortridge and Jason Kersley, has only been in operation since 2013-- less than three years.

Currently designing projects in Northern Colorado, Southern California, Hawaii and Thailand, [au]workshop creates quality, authentic architecture and catalytic urban, civic and commercial projects with a focus on projects that sustainably invigorate neighborhoods and cities. 

We're pleased to announce that our much-belabored (and beloved) building sign was selected as the 2015 winner of the Urban Fragments category of the Fort Collins Urban Design Awards!

The "Urban Fragments" category was defined as "a single, small-scale piece of a building or landscape that contributes significantly to the quality of the public realm." In our submittal, we discussed the sign's subtle scale and materiality, it's sustainable features, strategies for graceful aging, and it's presence as an urban object and catalyst for the River District's continued renewal.

You can read more about the design and construction process at the project page and the original blog post.

Accolades are always rewarding, and although we enjoyed the process tremendously, it's also nice to know that other people like the end result as much as we do. 

Thank you Fort Collins!

We are pleased to announce that [au]workshop's recently-completed Block One project has just received two local and state awards!

First, Bock One was selected as a 2015 winner in the Architecture category of the Fort Collins Urban Design Awards, which has celebrated and advocated for great urban spaces of all sizes since its inception in 2006.

Serendipitously, the project was also selected as the Best New Addition to a Downtown, in the major city category of the 2015 Downtown Colorado Inc. Governor's Awards for Downtown Excellence, which similarly recognizes projects with a positive community impact.

If you'd like to find our more about the project, please check out the project page here. And, please feel free to join us for a presentation of the project at the Urban Design Awards ceremony on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at the Midtown Arts Center at 3750 S. Mason Street. 

Though the architecture and urban design is it's own reward for us, we are of course thrilled that the project has received these accolades. The community's response to the completed project has been overwhelmingly positive, and it is thoroughly exciting to see the public share our passion for great urban spaces and architecture. 

Thank you to Fort Collins and Downtown Colorado Inc!

[au]workshop is pleased to announce that the Strategic Growth Bancorp Headquarters in Old Town Albuquerque has won an Engineering News Record Southwest Best Project award in the Interior/Tenant Improvement category!

An article about the project and award is available on the ENR Southwest website. Please also see our own project page for more information.

The San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity (SGVHH) recently recognized the design contributions of [au]workshop at its gala celebration in the iconic courtyard of Pasadena California's City Hall.  Randy Shortridge began providing pro-bono design concepts in 2006 for SGVHH when they were vying for the opportunity to redevelop the Desiderio Army Reserve Center in the Arroyo Seco, just south of Pasadena's historic Colorado Boulevard bridge.  The winning plan created a 3.8 acre park and a nine home bungalow court on 1.3 acres.  Project architect Brian Betsill was also honored for his myriad contributions.