www.recmgmt.com/facility-profiles.php?fid=200704FP01 -
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Last Visited: 9/3/2007
"The size of the facility with that number of residents was a surprise,just that they could afford it," said Craig Bouck, a principal with Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture and the lead designer on the project.
The town was able to afford the center by partnering with WECMRD and by passing a sales tax increase.The partnership has paid off, and the new recreation center is available for the entire district,not just the 5,000 citizens of Gypsum, but about 10,000 people in Eagle County, Bouck said.
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Bouck added that the town's leaders had high expectations after touring recreation centers throughout the area.In addition, he said, the town did not want to lose its existing open space.
"The site is pretty small, and it was going to be part of the campus that the town was building over the years," Bouck said."Most importantly, they had a big open green, and that's where they have the Gypsum Daze, a country music festival where the whole town gets together,a community-building event.So when we proposed that we were going to put this big building on their green, they were concerned to lose the open space."
Bouck and his team solved the problem by designing the building to be recessed into the hillside, preserving the green space.