PROJECT
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Student-Designed Building Embraces Desert Community hub offers a place to meet, share meals, and enjoy beautiful surroundings.
Confluence Hall, as its name suggests, is at the confluence of sustainability, flexibility, and efficiency, mitigating the harsh sun and wind while celebrating the unique beauty of its environs. Photos: Jesse Kuroiwa
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he desert landscape of Moab, UT, is a study in contrast: rugged yet beautiful, unforgiving yet inviting, and serene but teeming with adventure. This iconic desert is home to the Southwest branch of the Colorado Outward Bound School
(COBS, outwardbound.org), a non-profit outdoor-educational organization that offers classes for all ages. After a large donation allowed significant renovations to the dormitories, school officials realized the need for a community gathering space. Called to the challenge, students at the Univ. of Colorado Denver’s Colorado Building Workshop (coloradobuildingworkshop.cudenvercap.org) were able to design a unique building that reflects and embraces the nature of its surroundings. Confluence Hall was designed as the central community hub for the Moab branch of the school, offering a place to meet, share meals, and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. The building is truly at the confluence of sustainability, flexibility, and efficiency, mitigat-
Students transformed donated insulated metal panels, otherwise bound for landfill, into a staggered performative canopy that provides much-needed shade in summer and sunlight in the winter.
ing the harsh sun and wind while celebrating the unique beauty of its environs. Built to maximize the stunning views of the Moab desert, the building also acts as a buffer against solar exposure, as well as visual and auditory distractions from a nearby parking lot.
issue, it underscored COBS’ need for a community gathering space and cooking facility. Students at the Colorado Building Workshop rose to the challenge, designing a flexi-
A non-profit that teaches survival, life, and leadership skills through outdoor adven-
ble 3,300-sq.-ft. indoor-outdoor space that fit the budget and site requirements. The Col-
ture programs, COBS has offered courses at its Moab outpost for more than 50 years.
orado Building Workshop is a unique and prestigious design-build program at the Univ.
Executive director Peter O’Neil, a former field instructor at COBS Moab in the 1970s,
of Colorado Denver that has earned international recognition. Director Rick Sommer-
recalls the rugged living conditions.
field heads the program, and since 2010 his students have worked on a wide range of
“To call it substandard housing would be an understatement,” said O’Neil. Although conditions improved over time, a recent donation from Shell Oil Co. allowed significant improvements to the dormitories. Although the new living quarters solved the housing
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COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE
APRIL 2018
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com
projects including award-winning micro cabins in Leadville, CO, and the Boulder (CO) Museum of Contemporary Art. The Confluence Hall project, however, introduced a new, larger scope than other
