PRESS RELEASE

Ignacio School District 11-JT’s Ignacio Middle School was awarded the AIA Colorado Merit Award for Built Architecture and the AIA Colorado South Honor award for Built Architecture, by the American Institute of Architects. The awards were presented on Oct. 9 at the Silverthorne Pavilion in Silverthorne, Colorado. Members of AIA Colorado and its local sections (AIA Denver, AIA Colorado North and AIA Colorado South) submitted 188 entries resulting in 17 architectural design awards.

The new Ignacio Middle School was the first phase of a comprehensive District-wide Master Plan completed by RTA Architects in 2011. Construction of the middle school was completed in August of 2013. Design team members include: HCDA Structural Engineers, ME&E Engineering, DHM – Durango, and Goff Engineering.

The final design takes advantage of the site, views, and natural surroundings, provides a supportive and engaging environment, offers adaptive and flexible learning environments for the future, and introduces daylight from two sides into the classrooms.

The high performing, sustainable facility gently touches the site by stepping the building with the natural grade, using low-water native plants for landscaping, and orienting the building to views of the La Plata Mountains to the northwest and passive solar strategies to the south. Incorporation of the sacred geometries of the Southern Ute Tribe reflects the multi-cultural heritage of the region and community.

As a Community partner, the Ignacio School District provides an engaging education for all students in a safe, positive, and respectful environment.

RTA Architects, a firm of 34 employees located in Colorado Springs, CO, is an architecture and planning firm specializing in education, healthcare, retail and commercial projects. Supporting local, national and international communities, the RTA Architects’ mission is to honor and value their people, their clients, and the communities they represent; to design buildings that are sustainable, functional, and aesthetically pleasing; and to generate long term economic success for their clients and themselves.