Here Everything Rises Crestone Community Library Chris Hamilton 12.4.20 Arch 3100

At the end of the road, situated right in the dramatic transition between the vast and the sharp Sangre de Cristo mountains lives the town of Crestone, . It’s high at 8000’, it’s remote, and it has never been a place to get rich. But it’s the lack of resources, and the intensity of the landscape that draws people to the area and nourishes the spiritual communities that now define Crestone and it’s neighboring Baca Grande development. Living in the middle of somewhere brings into clarity the essentials of life and fosters a deep connection to the land. From the deep aquifer to the high mountains, the long winters to the powerful summer sun, and from the grit of living to the clarity and near enlightenment, here everything rises. This library is a reflection to the essence of Crestone and a reaction to the needs of the community. Utilizing earthen walls grounds the building to the land and provides a feeling of protection and mass. This is balanced by the lifting butterfly roof which allows diffused light to fill interior spaces. The building sits firmly as a part of it’s site and the programs it serves use it well. This is a structure of and for the people and the place that it lives.

The town of Crestone and the Baca Grande to the south are home to a population unique as the landscape that surrounds them. The rural area is often characterized by its W. Silver Ave religious and spiritual communities but this 2. 1. is only part of the picture. Crestone is not a To Moffat/ town of wealth, financially at least, with an 1. Bathrooms Alamosa 6. average annual income of $25k and 27.6% of 3. 2. Parking Area the population living below the poverty line. 3. Exisiting Pavilion Galena Ave 4. Playground

Alder St Alder The Baca, while increasingly becoming home Crestone 5. Basketball Court 5. to more affluent individuals and second homes Peak Entrances still too reports below average earnings. The population profile is overall older but also 4. 2. 4. home to families and younger people. W Silver Ave 3. 1. The building is placed and oriented on the town park site with consideration to sun, 5. access and program. It’s in close proximity Golden Ave to both the main parking/entry area and the restrooms creating efficient circulation to the library entrance. Groups and kids To Baca/ Moffat programmed space is positioned to the east providing direct access to the playground and 1. Site 2. Creek 3. Elephant Cloud Market 4. Crestone Brewing 5. Town Park 6. Grocery basketball courts. To the west facing the creek and woods is a more quiet and secluded space To Golden Ave Crestone and for reading and working. Town of Crestone Baca Grande 0 0.5mi’ 1mi 0 100’ 200’ 500’ Site Plan 0 5’ 15’ 30’ 1. Rammed earth walls 2. Shifting planes delineates 3. Thickening central masses ground form and begin to programs and indoor/outdoor adds weight and structure. create space. zones. Connects spaces and Spaces are further developed. opens sightlines.

4. Addition and subtraction of mass 5. Butterfly roof rises from central guides outdoor spaces and creates masses contrasting the weight of seating. Cut-out niches interact with rammed earth opening space for earth. light

C Summer Equinox

b. a. 1. Entry Patio 2. Quiet Reading/ Winter 1. Working Area 3. Reading Patio 2. c. 4. Group Space 5. Kids Reading Area 6. Kids Patio

a. Non-fiction D b. Fiction c. Media 3. 4. 5. 6. d. Laptop Station, d. Community Resources B e. Young Adult f. Digital Media e. f. 10” 20” 4’ 10”

18” 8’ 10” 6’ 7’ 8” 18” A

Floor Plan 0 1’ 2’ 5’ Section A 0 1’ 2’ 5’ User Profiles and Circulation Materiality

Brian Solar Panels 35 years old • Oriented south for maximum exposure Freelance writer living in town. He • Redirect excess electricity to Crestone likes to come to the library to work where the internet is reliable and he Corrugated Metal Roofing feels most productive. Often he’ll first • Extremely durable and leak-proof stop to get a coffee from the Elephant • Lightweight and low relative Cloud Market then use the short walk environmental impact • Commonly used local building material to get into a writing headspace before settling into the quiet back corner table. Metal Mullions and Glazing • Mullions act as structural support for roof • Clerestory windows let in indirect filtered light • Double-paned glass increases insulation Bill and Erika 65 and 67 years old Live in the Baca and enjoy visiting Cedar Doors and Shelving the library on their trips into town. Bill • Western Red Cedar sustainable harvested from the likes to read the newspaper on the • Refined wood elements contrast the rough back porch when it’s nice out. Erika and raw nature of rammed-earth appreciates the more social aspects of the library and reads her book or Rammed Earth Walls meets friends on the eastern side. • Completely local, natural, and recyclable product life-cycle • Structural and durable, supports roof load • Grounds structure into the earth connects Amelia to the landscape 9 years old During summers will come to the park Pine Flooring with her mom and younger brother • High-quality local beetle-kill Ponderosa where she has the freedom to move Pine between the playground and library • Sequesters carbon from otherwise kids area. Her mom can watch from decaying wood the outside patio while reading and catching up with neighbors. Concrete Slab Foundation Amelia is fascinated by the walls of • Provides stable and durable foundation for dirt and loves to leave behind little rammed earth things she finds outside in the cut- • Creates solid, level outdoor spaces out niches for those who visit next.

Laptop check-out station Cut-out niches Rain garden Existing pavilion and playground Section B Perspective 0 1’ 2’ 5’ Solar Panels Corrugated Metal Roofing

Batt Insulation Roof Purlins Metal Mullions 3/4” Gypsum Ceiling Panels Double-pane Glass

Waterproof Sealant 2x6 Bond Beam Concrete Cap

10”x11” Book Shelving

8” Rammed Earth is naturally 4” Rigid Insulation Rammed earth Gutter Flashing 6” Rammed Earth an excellent thermal mass and Rebar Reinforcement consequentially, a poor insulator. For colder climates like Crestones, it becomes necessary to insulate for the winter temperatures. Using a composite wall system with rigid foam insulation and rebar reinforcement meets both the structural and thermal requirements for the building. On south facing walls, the Light-guage Steel Framing 2x4 Roof Purlins exterior rammed earth layer is thickened 2x6 Gutter Board to absorb the sun’s heat and delay the penetration of cold into the insulation. For northern walls, the earth is thickened on the interior, holding daytime heating and releasing it at night, minimizing 3/4” Wood Flooring the energy needed for heating when the Section D Roof Drainage Detail 4“ Concrete Slab on Grade library is closed. 0 2” 5” 10” 2” Rigid Insulation Concrete Footing

Locating windows to the clerestory Libraries play an integral role in building and uplifting communities. They act as houses of knowledge preserves the structural and conceptual in the books they store, but too as houses of access, with internet and resources. They are centers for integrity of the rammed earth while community gathering, personal retreat and are always an open and safe space to all. In just 500sq ft, maximizing space for shelving below. this design creates distinct yet open program spaces for the variety of users, noise and activity levels. It The indirect light from the high windows maintains open sight lines through the library and into the park, where outdoor space expands the building. is ideal for both library users and 2” Sand book storage. During summer, the roof 4” Gravel overhang shades the interior whereas This is a project that embraces the force of rising that embodies this landscape and these people. In form, 24” Frost Depth in winter, the low-angle sun enters the of earthen mass, grounded and heavy, contrasted by the light and air of a lifting roof. But too in the rising building, heating the space and being of minds embalmed in knowledge, the individuals lifted by resources and the community furthered and Section C Detail absorbed into the central thermal masses. heightened in this special place. Here everything rises. 0 2” 5” 10”