FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- 7/30/98 | Contact: Karrie Williams 719-389-6466
COLORADO SPRINGS -- Internationally renowned architect Antoine Predock, credited with creating buildings that both make bold artistic statements and fit with their natural surroundings, has been retained to design an arts complex on the Colorado College campus.
College officials say the $16 million arts center, one of two new building projects in the college's $83 million fundraising campaign, is eagerly anticipated by the drama, dance, music and arts programs. Nearly all Colorado College students study in the arts or participate in a performance or other arts event during their college years.
Slated to house a theater, the college's film and video programs, a recital hall, gallery space, faculty offices and high-tech classrooms, the 60,000-square-foot center will be arranged in a way that draws upon the Pikes Peak region's stunning landscape. Part of the college's interdisciplinary Cornerstone Arts Initiative, the complex will round out the hub of arts-related campus buildings on Cascade Avenue and Cache la Poudre Street: Packard Hall, Armstrong Theater, and the Worner Center, along with the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center a block south on Cascade and Dale.
"Predock has an intense understanding of place," said Dan Cooper, a college trustee who chairs the buildings and grounds committee of the CC board. "He has made a name by designing buildings that are at home in the wide open spaces of the West. We look forward to working with him at Colorado College."
Featured in numerous magazines, newspapers and books, Predock is known for designing works that emphasize site and climate. An international jury awarded Predock its grand prize for his stucco-covered fine arts center at Arizona State University, and Time magazine and U.S. News and World Report have both lauded Predock's designs as some of this country's best. His portfolio includes residences, offices, libraries, elementary schools, and college buildings nationwide.
In addition to awards won at a string of competitions in the western United States, Predock has taken his modernist/futuristic interpretation of forms worldwide, having designed the expansive Hotel Santa Fe at Disneyland Paris.
Predock's home for the last four decades has been Albuquerque, N.M., a region that "has sensitized me to looking at sites at deeper levels, not just their obvious face value." He continues to draw inspiration from sources beyond architecture, theory, and history, and finds ways to include it in his designs. "There are exemplary realms that architecture can yield glimpses into, realms that are optimistic," he writes in the introduction of a new book scheduled for release later this year.
Predock's designs emphasize the kinesthetic experience of movement though them, which he explicitly acknowledges with reference to his early involvement in dance: "I think of my buildings as processional events, as choreographic events. Buildings are personal encounters... moving through them is processional, through a series of compressed episodic vantage points."
Predock was one of five architects invited to Colorado College last fall to participate in a lecture series on modern architecture. The architects toured the campus, met with students and faculty, and discussed ways to improve the college's overall design.
Anderson Mason Dale, a Denver-based architectural firm specializing in planning and design of facilities for the public, are the executive architects on this project and will oversee construction. AMD's portfolio includes performance facilities for both the Breckenridge, Colo., Riverwalk Performing Arts Center and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, as well for several secondary and higher education institutions.
Working with Anderson Mason Dale, Predock will visit the campus again in August to assess the proposed site and learn more about the college's needs. Schematic designs are anticipated in the spring. Construction schedule will depend on the success of fund raising efforts.
A recent Packard Foundation's $4 million campaign gift to Colorado College supports the creation of this campus arts complex. The foundation's generous gift also will help refurbish Packard Hall, the college's main music and art facility.
Founded in 1874, Colorado College is a national liberal arts and sciences college. Located in Colorado Springs on the front range of the Rocky Mountains, the college -- well known for its unusual Block Plan -- enrolls just under 2,000 undergraduates.
###
OFFICE OF COLLEGE RELATIONS
14 East Cache La Poudre Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903-3298
719-389-6603 tel 719-389-6256 fax
