Architects described a vibrant and harmonious vision for a new Three Springs Elementary School last week during a community-wide first look event.
The school, which will be replacing Florida Mesa Elementary, is set to be built off Wilson Gulch Drive in Three Springs subdivision and will open to students in 2028.
Construction is slated to begin next year.
The CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital Conference Room was filled Nov. 6 with colorful posters, interactive videos and members of the design team – all there to illustrate and explain what the Three Springs community can expect from the new school.
The design team – comprised of about 15 individuals in partnership with a range of companies, both local and contracted – emphasized the collaborative nature of the project.
Colorado Springs-based company RTA Architects, Durango-based DHM Design, and Lauren Davis with Durango and Pagosa Springs-based company Reynolds Ash and Associates Architecture & Engineering, are all part of the team.
The one-story, 70,000-square-foot building will support three classrooms for each grade, and two multipurpose flex classrooms.
The ambitious plan includes extensive playground concepts designed to fit into the existing landscape; porches extending off each classroom for outdoor learning; and an entrance that doubles as a multipurpose hangout zone, makerspace and library.
Christine Costa, project architect from RTA Architects, called the multipurpose library room the “heart of the school.”
Costa said the school was designed to truly reflect the city’s energy and aesthetic.
“Durango is this beautiful in-between space, and the design (reflects that),” Costa said. “On the south end (of the school), you’re being introduced with that kind of Colorado Plateau stacked stone, and the rustic kind of siding. And then as you go around the back, you really get that feel of the mountain community, with the porch, and the tin roof open to the landscape. (The design) is not ‘Anywhere USA’ – it’s really Durango, you know?”
The district’s advisory team for the project, comprised of residents, educators, district staff and community members, has had significant influence on design plans, Costa said.
“We start (advisory meetings) by just listening (to the advisory board),” Costa said. “We’re just asking questions and absorbing everything. And then the design starts to evolve, and we start to give feedback – kind of give back to that conversation.”
The preliminary playground and landscape designs, headed up by DHM Design landscape architects Cammie Willis, Ella Capello and Ann Christensen, seemed to especially catch the community’s collective eye at the First Look event.
Preliminary concepts for the playground area include a rope course, a tricycle track for younger children and a play structure built into the sloping landscape.
Playground surfacing will be made of wood fiber, and log and rock will be used for much of the structures, along with some pops of color and other materials sprinkled in, Costa said.
Florida Mesa Elementary school students brainstormed ideas for the playground structures, then voted on which they most wanted, Willis said.
Sustainability is top of mind as plans for the playground move forward, she said.
“One of the focuses is sustainability, and making sure the site is really designed in tune with nature,” she said. “So, all of our planting is supposed to be native, and we’re supposed to have 25% pollinator-friendly plants.”
The intention to construct the school in harmony with its natural surroundings is a priority across all design plans, said RTA Architects Principal in Charge Architect Ken Gregg.
“We wanted to set the building into the landscape. We’re going to try to minimize the destruction of nature,” he said.
Part of respecting the existing landscape includes efforts to maintain as much as possible the trail system that winds through the property, he said.
More conversation needs to happen between the district, designers and the city to determine the future of the trail system, according to Gregg – but the hope is to integrate the trail as much as possible into the school design.
“We’re pretty excited about the idea of mountain bikers being able to still use those trails, and the building really sharing that great site with all those users,” he said.
Community members Ayaka Sato and Chris Propst plan to send their 4-year-old son, Kai, to Three Springs Elementary when it opens in 2028. Kai is currently a student at Florida Mesa Elementary.
Sato said she’s excited for the school to bring a vibrant and kid-friendly energy to the neighborhood. The playground concepts especially impressed her, she said.
“The playground (at Florida Mesa) is good, but the outside area is a more of a regular play area,” she said. “It’s not extensive like these. So, that's mostly what (Kai) is really excited about. It looks really great – the ropes, and balancing and (the) more physical (stuff). We’re excited.”
Florida Mesa Elementary Principal Andrea Guttormson and Vice Principal James Dusman will be overseeing the transition to the new school, and will remain in their positions there once it opens.
Though Three Springs Elementary will replace Florida Mesa Elementary for elementary programming in the area, the Florida Mesa Elementary building will remain standing, said district spokeswoman Karla Sluis, and will be used for something special.
Plans are forming to turn the building into a hub for technical career education, Sluis said. The idea came from Durango School District Superintendent Karen Cheser.
Sluis recognizes the sentimentality connected to Florida Mesa, which was constructed in 1957.
“We want to preserve the history,” she said.
Cheser said she’s grateful to the community for having faith in the district’s plans for the new school.
“All of this can happen because of our community,” Cheser said. “I’ve been involved every single step of the way, and we just want to make sure, always, that (the school is) flexible and adaptable and a great learning environment for our kids, and making sure that it meets the needs of our students. Our kids deserve it.”
epond@durangoherald.com
