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.

The teachers of the 4-year-old class at Teaching Tree, our neighborhood preschool, asked us to come speak to the the kids about what it means to be an architect for their Design and Building curriculum week. Representing us and our profession, Stephanie Bedinghaus presented a few of our current projects and answered a multitude of questions about buildings. 

If you look closely enough at the attached image, you will see Stephanie showing them an image of Confluence, a soon-to-be-constructed building right next to their school!

Nice job Stephanie!

[au]workshop turns 5 today! We can't believe how quickly the time has passed! We began as a three-person team in a shared office space back in 2013, and as our holiday party dinner table shows, we have grown ever since. 

To celebrate, we 3d printed some custom commemorative fidget spinners to keep our hands busy during our frequent intra-office collaborations.

A big Thank You! to all of the wonderful clients and collaborators who have helped us succeed so far. We're excited for the next five!

Some member of our team were in Pasadena last week (at the lovely Huntington Gardens!) for meetings on another project and we wanted to share some progress photos from the Desiderio Homes construction site. Things are coming along!

We also thought we'd take the opportunity to share a little of the history surrounding the site. Both photos are taken from the Colorado Street Bridge, built in 1912, which lends a truly lovely backdrop to the site. In the second photo, you can see the historic Vista del Arroyo Hotel building, which is another beautiful complement dating back to 1920-1930. During WWII, it became the McCornack General Hospital, later becoming Federal offices, and is now the Richard H. Chambers United States Court of Appeals. 

Much of Pasadena is beautiful, but the eight families who inhabit the project will have some pretty amazing architecture in their backyards. 

More to come!

View From Colorado Bridge

Looking down the main project axis.

Historic Vista del Arroyo Hotel in the Background

The renovation of the Food Bank for Larimer County's new Headquarters and Distribution Center on Wright Drive is under way! Dohn Construction has completed selective demolition of the interior to make way for a new kitchen, volunteer areas, and offices, along with cleaning up and re-cladding portions of the exterior. As is always true of the construction process, it may not look like much yet, but we're excited to see it progress!

Exterior Re-Cladding

Stripped down and ready for a new life!

Future Volunteer Work Area

Featuring stacked shipping containers!

Future Central Stair

Many of the original partitions are to remain, but the interior look and feel of this space  are already beginning to be completely transformed.

After collecting the required 12 months of real-world energy use data, the City of Fort Collins Utilities Administration Building (UAB) at 222 Laporte has received an Energy Star Score of 100! Stu Reeve, the CoFC Energy Manager, called it "Exciting news! [...] Pretty impressive for the first year of operation."

The LEED Platinum building features a 100 KW rooftop solar array, extensive and careful daylighting, recycled and local materials, and a heat pump mechanical system. These systems are also engineered to tie-in with future projects as the city develops a civic campus. You can see photos and find more information at the project's page.

For all the non-architects out there, a short explanation may be necessary. The design/construction schedule from our perspective is typically described in five stages (though there is some variation in how different architects mark their progress): 

1. Conceptual Design/Entitlements: Initial programming and conceptual layout, preliminary city approvals
2. Schematic Design (SD): Establishment of key relationships and functionality, early development of key design elements, early (and on-going) coordination with Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Structural engineering drawings
3. Design Development (DD): Early development of key details and further coordination with MEP/Structural drawings
4. Construction Documents (CDs): Production of documentation necessary to price and construct the project, including full coordination with MEP/Structural drawings
5. Construction Administration (CA): Continued coordination of documented elements with the construction process in the field

This whole process is also happening simultaneously within the interior design and landscape architecture disciplines, while also coordinating with the architectural team.

Whew! This is all to explain that the Mandarin Oriental Honolulu project is progressing according to schedule, with 100% SD (Schematic Design) having just been completed! We have updated our project page accordingly, with some brand new images and information. As part of developing the design, we've done extensive exploration and modeling in 3d, so we also wanted to share a quick video overview we produced. We're excited to move into Design Development as we begin the new year!

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San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity has officially broken ground on the Lomita Avenue Townhomes! Our own Brian Betsill was in attendance at the August ceremony, and took the picture below of the families selected for ownership digging in. Construction is continuing in the new year through Fall/Winter 2018, so if you're in the Glendale area, click here to volunteer! SGV Habitat also has more information about their partnership with the Glendale Housing Authority and the families selected for the project at their website. 

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Presales for residential units in Confluence are currently underway, with nearly a third of the units already reserved! If you're interested in a residential unit or commercial space, please head over to the Confluence site to learn more before they're all gone!

Below is an example of the two interior finish options in the main living area. We have also added some new images at our project page, if you'd like to see more.

Confluence was featured prominently Sunday in the Business section of the Coloradoan, in a feature on buildings that are reshaping Fort Collins, alongside other projects that are revitalizing the River District. We've received lots of positive feedback on the article, so thank you! If you haven't read it yet, you can find it at the Coloradoan's website, or if you'd like more information on the project, check out our project page or go straight to the Confluence site. 

Presales are going on now, with units going fast!

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[au]workshop is truly grateful for all of our clients, collaborators and friends that helped make 2017 a terrific year! We wish each of you a happy and prosperous 2018!

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To view more images from Honolulu, please head over to the 1500 Kapiolani page! 

Every year, it seems like our table gets a little longer! This year, continuing our tradition of supporting local businesses, [au]workshop (and family) enjoyed good company and a great meal at the newly opened Cache at Ginger and Baker. 

We also wanted to take the opportunity to wish Happy Holidays to our many wonderful collaborators and clients. See you next year!