Most Recent News at RTA

Excerpt from article by Melanie Mazur, as published in the Durango Herald:

New Ignacio school buildings built for future; they incorporate energy efficiency, technology, comfort.

How do you build schools that provide a better learning experience for students and teachers?

In the process of creating three new school buildings, for about $50 million, the Ignacio School District built them with energy efficiency, natural light and technology to create a better experience for students. 

It’s far different from the buckets lining the hallway that collected water from leaking ceilings. That’s what used to greet students when they walked through the door at Ignacio High School.

Read More from The Durango Herald

RTA-designed center under construction. 

The prestigious 2014 Vista Award goes to RTA Architects, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services and GE Johnson Construction Company for teamwork in optimizing the physical healthcare environment.

RTA's Level II Trauma Emergency Department renovation at Penrose Hospital wins the 2014 Vista Award for Renovation presented by The American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE). The award is presented to an organization that has altered existing conditions or added new space to existing structures. The original building envelope must remain essentially intact.

The Gottlieb project will be featured among other projects at a Colorado Preservation conference called “Saving Places” in Denver Feb 6-7. The Gottlieb building is the campus hub of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. The excerpt from the session is below. The link to the web site is: http://coloradopreservation.org/saving-places-conference/

F1. Sympathetic Additions to Historic and Existing Buildings AIA/CES 1.25

The 21st century has brought us some incredible architectural work, destined to be the landmarks of tomorrow. But at the same time, there is a growing appreciation for the classic architecture of the past, and reverence for the detail and order that historic buildings teach us. Preservationists and architectural historians are sometimes alarmed by the idea of additions to those historic buildings, often with good reason. Enlightened minds recognize that buildings and cities are not static or frozen in time. There are new needs and programs that require more and different space. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards can guide – or discourage – high quality architectural solutions. Standard #9 states, “…The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with historic massing, size, scale, and architectural features to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment.” Through case studies of award-winning projects — commercial, institutional and residential — the presenters will attempt to convince you that a project can be both sympathetic AND different. You are encouraged to come to an image-rich, fast-paced presentation that will attempt to lay out the problems and conundrums of reworking with historic buildings for new uses, and share dozens of successful solutions from around the country. Speakers: Doug Walter, AIA, Senior Architect, Godden/Sudik Architects; Nan Anderson, AIA, founding principal of Anderson Hallas Architects, P.C.

Colorado Springs, CO—RTA Architects is pleased to announce the promotion of Kevin Gould, AIA to Associate Principal. A licensed architect, Kevin has 27 years of professional experience designing and managing aviation, retail, office, commercial, school, and healthcare projects. Since joining RTA in 2008, Kevin has focused on healthcare, and he has served as project manager on numerous medical projects in the Denver Metro area for clients including Centura Health and Denver Health and Hospital Authority.

ENR Mountain States touts planning and teamwork on the first phase of world-renowned Craig Hospital's $90 million expansion for Craig Hospital, a world-renowned, top 10 spinal cord and traumatic brain injury hospital.

See feature article from the September 26, 2013 issue of ENR Mountain States.

RTA’s Craig Hospital project team members Jon Bock, Megan Norris, and principal Stuart Coppedge, AIA, met the “Pikes Peak Challenge” in support of the Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado. As tough as the 13 mile, 8,000 vertical foot trek up Pikes Peak is, it pales in comparison to the challenges faced by brain injury survivors every day. Jon, Megan, and Stuart felt privileged to enjoy a beautiful day on “America’s Mountain” earlier this month while helping raise funds for the Alliance and the survivors, families, and professionals it supports.

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.

RTA and the Calhan School District celebrated the completion of their recent PK-12 renovation project with a ribbon cutting ceremony on August 21, 2013. RTA began the design on the $2 million project in January 2013; and after four months of construction, the school was ready for students heading back to school for the 2013-2014 school year.

Funded in part by a BEST grant, the project provided needed upgrades and improvements to Calhan’s PK-12 building including fire alarm upgrades, emergency egress lighting, surge suppression on the electric service, exit doors at the auxiliary gym and a new public address system. Building additions provided a new security vestibule and relocated administration area while renovated areas include the media center, technology lab and classrooms.

RTA’s design team of Brian Calhoun, Mike Riggs, and Ken Gregg attended the ribbon cutting ceremony, along with GH Phipps Construction, Vanir Construction Management, school staff, parents, students, and members of the community.

RTA will participate in the ACE program for the upcoming 2013-2014 school year. The ACE program (Architecture-Construction-Engineering) “stands for mentoring high school students and inspiring them to pursue careers in design and construction.”

RTA will hold an after school program for 2 hours every 2 weeks from October through March to teach students about architecture. The student projects will progress through the stages of design and end in a final presentation of their projects. RTA will also reach out to local consultants for correlating lessons on engineering and construction.

The mission of ACE is to engage, excite, and enlighten high school students who are interested in careers in architecture, engineering and construction, through mentoring and support of their continued advancement in the industry.