{"id":3454,"date":"2025-08-08T17:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T17:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/?p=3454"},"modified":"2025-08-15T15:29:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:29:32","slug":"kva-transforms-vaulted-concrete-colorado-sports-facility-into-arts-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/08\/kva-transforms-vaulted-concrete-colorado-sports-facility-into-arts-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"KVA transforms vaulted concrete Colorado sports facility into arts hub"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vaulted<\/div>\n

American studio Kennedy & Violich Architecture has adapted<\/a> a vaulted<\/a> 1960s ice skating pavilion into an education building with workshops\u00a0in Colorado Springs, Colorado<\/a>, USA. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Colorado College Honnen Arts Hub<\/a> was completed in 2024, the latest iteration of the 1961 Lusk and Wallace skating pavilion, which featured seven, 180-foot (55-metre) thin-shell barrel vaults.<\/p>\n

The open-air pavilion, made entirely of cast concrete, was enclosed in the 1980s to create a hockey arena. Now, the 30,000-square-foot (2,787-square-metre) structure holds a series of art studios, workshop spaces and galleries.<\/p>\n

\"Orange
KVA has converted a 1960s skating rink into an arts hub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“When we first visited Honnen, it was cavernous, dingy and dim,” Juan Frano Violich, principal of Boston-based Kennedy & Violich Architecture (KVA<\/a>), told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“The barrel vault roof somehow rose above it all. It was so familiar and seemed strangely connected \u2013 in conversation \u2013 with other vaulted structures, the great Mosque of Cordoba and Louis Kahn’s Kimball Art Museum.”<\/p>\n

On the exterior, the studio broke down the enclosing walls added in the ’80s, opening the undersides of the vault with thin-profile glazing and painting the new recessed entry a warm terracotta colour derived from the red sandstone of the alpine desert landscape.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
The Colorado College Honnen Arts Hub holds studios, classrooms, open spaces, and workshops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inside, KVA closed off the exterior into bays, determined by the 30-foot (9-metre) lateral span of the vaults.<\/p>\n

On the north end of the rectangular plan, the back-of-house workshops have additional ventilation, make-up air systems, power and acoustic mediation; while on the southern end, the spaces are more public-facing with studios, classrooms and an exhibition space for the college’s fine arts department.<\/p>\n

\"KVA
The vaults were exposed to ventilate and bring in light<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Outside of the art studios and classrooms, the vaults are emphasised by orange-painted walls that align with additional painting on the ceiling of the wide-open central space in the centre of the plan. Orange detaling continues outside and can be seen in subtle details such as curtains in the machine shops.<\/p>\n

Inside the art studios, the walls were left relatively unadorned with exposed mechanical systems. The glass-covered exteriors of the vaults bring in additional outdoor light.<\/p>\n

\"Workshop
The machine shops and mechanical systems were place at one side of the plan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to directing views out to the Colorado Rockies, the vaults act as ducted plenums, contributing to an air conditioning-free ventilation system, contributing to the overall efficiency of the design.<\/p>\n

“[The vaults] are a large part of why the building is so adaptable, welcoming, and resilient,” the studio said.<\/p>\n

Following the college’s achievement of becoming carbon neutral in 2020<\/a>, the studio employed a displaced air system, eliminating the need for refrigerated cooling in the high desert climate.<\/p>\n