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THE DAIRY CENTER FOR THE ARTS The Dairy Center for the Arts, located at 26th and Walnut Street in Boulder, is a 42,000 square-foot non-profit cultural arts organization housed in the city’s former Watts-Hardy Dairy building. The Dairy Center’s mission is to provide community members of all ages and cultural backgrounds with diverse opportunities to create and participate in high-quality performing and visual arts experiences. With two black-box theaters of 80 and 120 seats, a 250-seat performance space, and multiple galleries, The Dairy Center is the city’s largest multidisciplinary arts facility and one of the only places in Boulder where visitors can experience dramatic theater, comedy, live music, dance performances and visual arts under one roof. An average of 300 patrons, students, teachers and artists infuse vibrancy, creativity and the spirit of discovery into The Dairy Center every day. The Transformation of The Dairy The renaissance of The Dairy Center for the Arts began in the early 1990s when the “Walls, Stalls, & Performance Halls” renovation project was launched to convert the former Watts-Hardy dairy from an abandoned, cavernous milk factory to a sophisticated performing arts center. Over a 20 year time span, SSA has provided pro bono architectural work to transform this “diamond in the rough” into Boulder’s cultural Mecca. However, as Fred Astaire said, “It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable.” And, the choreography for The Dairy Center is still not complete. This is because the renovations to date have focused on creating and improving the functionality of key interior spaces. The facility’s entrance and façade has not yet enjoyed the same revitalizing transformation emanating from within The Dairy Center’s walls. The New Face of The Dairy While The Dairy Center’s adaptive re-use of an abandoned industrial space is a nationally recognized model of constructive urban development, there are still six key architectural improvements necessary to elevate it to the height of its visual appeal and grandeur, as well as greatly improve the building’s functionality and efficiency:
A New, Inviting Entrance & Grand Lobby The lack of an architectural icon in the surrounding neighborhood combined with the plain, warehouse-style appearance of the building offered a blank canvas for the Project Architect to raise the bar in terms of designing a new, alluring façade. It was important that the design not only distinguish The Dairy Center as the neighborhood’s signature piece of architecture, but also reflect and exemplify the building’s important purpose. To do this, the Project Architect designed a new entrance that features a dramatic 32-foot-high, glass-walled lobby with a sweeping roof evocative of the old Watts-Hardy Dairy logo and inspired by the fluid movement of dancers that grace the stages within. By enclosing approximately two-thirds of the outside patio, the new design will create an inviting Grand Lobby that not only complements the existing forms, but offers patrons a strong sense of place and climactic feeling of arrival. The larger lobby will allow access to separate events simultaneously, and modular walls will create numerous options for art display and programming. The shape of the roof will also meet the need to provide natural daylight into the depths of the performance spaces and galleries. Internally, the curved roof form will be enhanced by an acoustically absorptive ceiling that offer a feeling of great space, light and height of almost ecclesiastical levels. Interior night lighting will illuminate the new façade and immediate area. On performance nights, the glowing glass curtain wall will not only add to the mystique of the building, but make it a radiant beacon of the arts that raises the comfort level of visitors and nearby residents as 26th Street is generally perceived as dark and uninviting. The New Face of the Dairy will not only transform the building into a signature piece of architecture in its own right, but make it a cultural destination that evokes the same awe and excitement it offers within its walls. Boedecker Theater A generous grant from The Boedecker Foundation and its founder, George B. Boedecker Jr., has funded a cozy theater with an art house atmosphere at The Dairy Center for the Arts. Boedecker, a longtime Boulder resident, is an entrepreneur and humanitarian as well as the principal founder and creative force behind Crocs, Inc. Comfortable seats will offer high-quality cinema viewing, with state of the art acoustics and access to traditional movie theater refreshments as well as gourmet snacks, beer and wine. Theater construction is expected to be completed in late 2010. The Foundation also has seeded an endowment to fund both future operations of The Dairy Center and the New Face capital campaign. The level of local interest in content such as opera, art films and documentaries, as well as the strong presence of film enthusiasts in our area, gave The Dairy the idea of expanding its arts offerings to include cinema. The theater funded by The Boedecker Foundation will also accommodate live performances or speakers. Working with a digital provider of original content, we plan to present content such as international film festival presentations, first run independent/international films, high definition productions of concerts, operas, live theater and documentaries, as well as children’s programming and other educational programs. We expect to work closely with existing film presenters in the area. |
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