In 2013, Boulder’s iconic Mapleton School was repurposed into an early childhood education center. The project was featured in the CEFPI Educational Facility Planner magazine Volume 49 Issue 1. To learn about how this historic school was preserved and transformed, click here.

RTA announced the completion of four Colorado school projects opening across the state last month. The four schools span the State of Colorado and welcomed students returning to school for the 2013-2014 school year. The four newly designed schools are:

• Boulder Valley School District’s Mapleton Early Childhood Center
• Calhan School District’s PK-12 school
• Ignacio Middle School, in southwestern Colorado
• Holly School, in southeastern Colorado

RTA’s design team Doug Abernethy and Mike Riggs, along with RTA’s joint venture partner Alan Ford Architects, attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Mapleton Early Childhood Education Center to mark the school's opening. They were joined by Adolfson & Peterson Construction, school staff, parents, students, and members of the community. This $4 million project transformed the historic Mapleton School into Boulder Valley School District’s first early education center.

Calhan School’s ribbon cutting ceremony marked the reopening of their PK-12 building and was attended by RTA’s design team Brian Calhoun, Mike Riggs, and Ken Gregg. Also attending were GH Phipps Construction, Vanir Construction Management, school staff, parents, students, and community members. The $2 million project was funded in part by a BEST grant and provided needed upgrades and improvements to Calhan’s PK-12 building.

An opening ceremony was held on August 29 for Ignacio Middle School. The new school is a dynamic, energy-efficient 21st century learning environment reflecting the community’s multi-cultural heritage and is the first phase of a district-wide master plan completed by RTA Architects in 2011. The school was built by FCI Constructors of Durango.

Holly School District’s $24 million BEST grant project provided for a new PK-12 school, athletic fields and a renovated vocational technical building. In addition to the new state-of-the-art gymnasium, the existing historic WPA-era gymnasium was preserved and renovated. Construction was recently completed by Adolfson & Peterson Construction of Denver.