Imaginative, sustainable & award winning architecture

tel +44 (0)8456 123 991 | email info@51pct.com

Fairgrounds, Mineral County

Reme­di­a­tion work on this 46 acre site was com­pleted last year, with the out­door arena being moved to its final posi­tion on the lower bench.

The for­mer sil­ver min­ing town of Creede is located in the Alte Vista Moun­tains, 10 miles from the source of the Rio Grande. The fair­ground site’s strate­gic impor­tance is its loca­tion on the flood­plain of Wil­low Creek - it can be seen for miles from the Sil­ver Thread Scenic High­way. The site makes an impor­tant con­tri­bu­tion to the nat­ural land­scape and could become an iconic sig­na­ture for the town.

The Min­eral County Fair­grounds Asso­ci­a­tion approached 51% stu­dios to develop with them a pro­posal for per­ma­nent all weather fair­ground facil­i­ties which could be imple­mented over time. Each phase will need to func­tion in its own right, allow­ing for the next with max­i­mum effi­ciency. We devel­oped a flex­i­ble mas­ter dia­gram, using reme­di­a­tion to cre­ate an endur­ing ‘func­tional land­scape’, pre­serv­ing and enhanc­ing exist­ing views to and from the site.

Facil­i­ties will include a multi-purpose all-weather arena, com­mu­nity cen­ter and pub­licly acces­si­ble land­scape where equal impor­tance is given, and clear dis­tinc­tions made, between pedes­tri­ans, the ani­mals and their trucks.

Local sus­tain­able design research has included a sur­vey of read­ily avail­able local mate­ri­als, effi­cient energy cre­ators such as ground source, solar cells etc, indige­nous build­ing tra­di­tions such as straw bale and stucco con­struc­tion, in-floor radi­ant heat, and nat­ural lighting.

The Min­eral County Fair­grounds Asso­ci­a­tion [MCFA] has suc­cess­fully secured city, county, state and fed­eral grants for the site, as well as over­see­ing the Vol­un­tary Cleanup Operation.

April 16, 2009 | Filed Under Architecture, Landscape  | Topics: , , , ,

  • Out & About

© 2009-2012 51% Studios