The Mineral County Fairgrounds Association hosted a viewing of architectural sketches for the Upper Rio Grande Events and Recreation Complex on July 8, 2010. At the Community Church MCFA board members received input and thoughtful discussions on this project. Catherine du Toit and Anderson Inge of 51% Studios presented their vision for the future of the site. Many of the topics discussed focused more on how the complex will benefit the community and not the delicious food. Some benefits of the recreation complex included providing a place for local children to learn to swim, provide a large venue for concerts, and give all age groups a sense of place within the community.
The architects and MCFA board have committed to making the site as self sustainable as possible, investigating newer technologies to answer old maintenance problems. Ideas on sod roofing, geothermal heating, and solar collectors were discussed. In all the architects presented designs for three buildings; an indoor events arena, a maintenance building, and a recreation center. Also included were designs for the entire complex, complete with landscaping, parking lots and traffic flow patterns. The impressive scope of the presentation ranged from layout of the entire complex to a cross section of the swimming pool/recreation to a shadow study of the buildings at various times of the year. In addition, the architects had roughed out square footage numbers for each building and total construction cost estimates.
If you would like to learn more or see the sketches, please call 719.658.2376