Formerly a popular tourist destination, Manitou Springs had become more of a tourist trap than a destination. City revenues in this small town just west of Colorado Springs had dramatically decreased, the business district was decaying and its centralized parks were becoming eyesores.

Nolte Associates Inc. provided the urban planning, design and engineering elements to help attract more visitors to the town and encourage private redevelopment in the seven-block central business district.

Key to the project’s success was preserving the historic charm of Manitou Springs. The new streetscape was designed to take full advantage of the city’s historic features. A number of the street modifications represent significant changes from existing conditions. Improvements included reducing the existing four-lane roadway to three lanes and adding round-about intersections and mid-block pedestrian crossings. Streetscape and pedestrian upgrades such as widening sidewalks and providing ADA ramps serve not only to attract foot traffic but also have also provided significant safety and aesthetic improvements.

Additional design features included burying the above-ground utilities, which were strung on non-conforming utility poles, creating a significant eyesore. The result yielded a streetscape that enhanced both pedestrian and vehicle traffic safety and dramatically improved the visual aesthetics of the central business district.

Today, Manitou Springs is again thriving as a tourist destination with an economic climate fostering business development and growth. New infrastructure is being built, visitor numbers have dramatically increased and enthusiasm for the improvements persists.

Manitou Avenue Revitalization
Manitou Spring

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is home to the Taylor Museum of Art, the Bemis School of Art and the newly renovated and named SaG_Ji Theatre. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The project consisted of a 60,000-sq-ft addition combined with 48,398 sq ft of renovation. The interior renovation work involved removing one art gallery and replacing it with new public restrooms, which opened on October 6. Another early effort was completing the Bemis School of Arts addition early enough to allow the school to open for classes in fall 2006.

Project challenges included:

• Building in close proximity to existing buildings; in some cases, new footings were within 18 in. of the property line;
• Demolishing an addition built in the 1970s while keeping one wall. Basically, GE Johnson demolished three sides of an existing structure and then re-built it;
• During the Bemis School of Arts Addition, attaching new structural steel in the addition to 75-year-old concrete in the existing structure created some unique challenges.
• Installing two custom structural curtain-wall systems.

The original floor in the theater, directly adjacent to the recently remodeled kitchen, was also completely restored. The theater is one of the most well-preserved portions still remaining from the original 1936 construction.

The east portion of the building houses expanded art storage and art gallery spaces. The four galleries have roughly 30,000 sq ft of imported Brazilian cherry wood floors installed. The galleries, as in many museums, have extremely tight climate control tolerances, which required the use and interface of many different vapor barrier systems.

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Colorado Springs

Located within the Del Mar neighborhood on 12.7 acres and a short distance from the Aurora Arts District redevelopment, the West End Middle School campus is home to over 1,000 students in sixth through eighth grades. The campus is a critical piece of the neighborhood and consists of West Middle School (circa 1949), the Historic William Smith High School (circa 1932) and a neighborhood park.

The objective of this project was to create a comprehensive middle school based upon Aurora Public Schools’ Educational Specifications, which include the upgrade all major building systems while respecting the historic structures, community context and the ongoing operations of the school. The project includes the complete renovation of the middle school and a portion of the William Smith building (76,000 sq ft) and a one-story addition (55,000 sq ft) to house additional classrooms, a new media center, a cafeteria/kitchen and administration offices.

One of the major components of the renovation was the establishment of a clear and accessible main entry to the school. This was accomplished by moving the central parking area to the west and linking the two existing buildings with a central corridor. This corridor establishes a hierarchy of circulation pathways within the existing West Middle School and the William Smith High School building, enabling control and ease of supervision. The new addition houses grade six, which allows the remaining classrooms to be subdivided into seventh and eighth grade communities.

The exterior of the addition continues the use of masonry veneer found on the existing structures. The windows on the existing building were replaced with new window fenestrations that enliven the façade and bring more daylight into existing classrooms.

West Middle School
Aurora

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