RTA Architects, an award-winning Colorado Springs-based architectural and interior design firm recently received the highest honor in the Education category from the Rocky Mountain Region of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) during its annual awards program. The Best Education Project Award recognized the design and construction of the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center on the campus of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS).
The DBIA Rocky Mountain Region represents the four-state region of the Rocky Mountain Region (Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming) promotes and supports the successful use of the design-build project delivery method both regionally and nationally. Its annual awards program recognizes “Design-Build Done Right;” exemplary design-build project(s) that resulted in achieving best-value while demonstrating effective schedule and cost performance, as well as exemplify the principles of effective processes, interdisciplinary teamwork, problem-solving, and excellence in design.
Completed with JE Dunn and HOK, the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center is a unique partnership between UCCS and Penrose-St. Francis Health Services/Centura Health integrates medical care, research, performance, instruction, and patient education into a 104,634 SF state-of-the-art center that promotes synergies between sports-medicine-based clinical treatment and academics, using advances in athletic training to create new protocols for treating injuries, otherwise known as “exercise as medicine.” It is also part of the Colorado Springs City for Champions, a collection of four unique high-profile projects that also include the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum, Colorado College Sports and Event Center, and the U.S. Air Force Academy Gateway Visitor Center.
“Working on the Hybl Center was a true pleasure,” stated RTA Principal Paul Reu, AIA. “Everyone worked together as a team in every sense of the word, from the program planning phase through design and construction, to provide an incredible facility for our community.”
The program document and design for this high-profile project were developed in close collaboration with Centura Health staff and UCCS performance research faculty. A primary goal of the design was to promote collaborative interaction among staff, students, researchers, physicians, and faculty. Thoughtfully-placed collision spaces were integrated into the design to facilitate this interaction at key circulation paths. Sustainability was also a focus of the design, and the facility is pursuing LEED Gold certification.
This is the second year in a row that an RTA-designed project has won Best Education Project from the DBIA Rocky Mountain Region. Previous recognition includes the design and construction of the Chinook Trail Middle School for Academy District 20 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
