CREJ

32 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / September 2019 ELEMENTS Colorado Architecture A Sense of Place: The Architecture of Colorado H ome to the Rocky Mountains, the urban vibrancy of Denver, the vast landscapes of the Eastern Plains, the compelling histo- ry of the mining towns, and the wind-swept cattle ranches, Colorado has a rich architectural history that spans three centuries. We are very blessed to practice architecture in a very special place – Col- orado. In turn, we have a moral responsibility to practice architecture in a very special place – Colo- rado. Whether we are builders, developers, engineers, architects or even patrons we must remember what creates this sense of place. Unfortunately too many of our contemporary buildings have no reference, no context, no soul nor rich stories to share about their being in this special place. I, like many, relocated to Colorado in the early 1980s from the Midwest. Denver was then booming with high-rise structures that could be built anywhere in theU.S. I recall the storyofhowthe “cashregister” build- ing by Phillip Johnson had actually been designed for a site in Houston but then the developer moved the iconic design to Denver. The mountain towns and ski resorts were also booming with structures that aspired to be reminiscent of European villages. Perhaps the most important memory of my orien- tation to Colorado was attending a lecture by Harry Teague, then a young architect in Aspen transplanted from Yale. I vividly recall Harry’s theme of thinking about where we are practicing and how we should learn from what was placed here many years prior to us whether it be the geological formations, the materi- als extracted from the earth to give formandmaterial- ity, or the extreme environmental forces. Arguably, it is the most important lecture I have attended as I reflect upon how to we design and build. I often ask, why ar- en’t we as a profession “learning more from Colorado” in our practices? Many might refer to this style of architecture as ver- nacular but vernacular is not a style at all. Distinctive to this architectural approach is the emergence of a unique architecture that celebrates its identity of place, without falsifying history – in other words, searching for identity without being identical. Architects create these unique identities through direct sensory experi- ences and conceptual insights while borrowing from and enhancing the emotional identity inherent to its sense of place. To make a place is to make a domain that helps people know where they are, and by exten- sion, know who they are. Buildings that frequently top everyone’s list of sig- nificant Colorado architecture, because they clearly exemplify their sense of place are; the National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesa Lab by I.M. Pei in 1966, the U.S. Air Force Academy Chapel by Walter Netsch in 1962, Red Rocks Amphitheater by Burnham Hoyt in 1941, and the Denver International Airport Terminal by Curt Fentress in 1995 (which unfortunately has been marred with the addition of the “whale tail” Westin Hotel). Perhaps two lesser recognized contemporary structures that exemplify this sense of place are new restrooms at top of Long’s Peak and the Montezuma County Combined Courts in Cortez. The National Park Service collaborated with Uni- versity of Colorado College of Architecture and Plan- ning’s ColoradoBuildingWorkshop to construct new backcountry privies. The Long’s Peak Privies explore lightweight prefabricated construction and emerging methods of waste collection to minimize the human footprint in Colorado’s backcountry. The built form is a series of prefabricated structural gabion walls. The Dennis Humphries AIA Principal/ Parnter, Ratio/HPA The Montezuma County Courthouse in Cortez draws its reference from Puebloan structures.