Pueblo City Schools Administration Building

Location:  Pueblo, CO

Owner: Pueblo City Schools

Description:  A key element of the design is the semi-oval Board Room section that juts out from the main body of the building, which is essentially triangular in shape. Adding special interest is the brick bas-relief that runs almost the entire course of the curving 167’ long, 9’ high exterior wall of the Board Room segment.

The overall design concept of the District 60 Administration Building had the pragmatic goal of developing the most square footage, in addition to parking areas, out of the one square block available for the project. The result: 42,000 sf of space on three levels — a finished basement and two stories.

But in order to avoid a static building line following street patterns, the architects cut the square along a diagonal to form a basically triangular structure that fronts on the street at an angle looking toward downtown Pueblo with the Board Room (and sculptured wall) protruding from the hypotenuse.

The basement floor is devoted to storage, supplies, media materials and equipment and maintenance. The second floor includes the Board Room and areas for accounting, personnel, computers and other administration needs. The third floor provides for administration offices, curriculum development and student records. In addition to housing meetings of the Board of Education, the Board Room, which can accommodate 120 people, also serves as a meeting place for community groups and public functions.

Outside the building, brick stairs lead to a raised “paseo”- a walkway around the Board Room – built with brick pavers laid tightly in sand. Brick was also used outside for light standards, planters and retaining walls. Inside brick pavers form the fl ooring of corridors, and exposed brick is strongly featured in the stairwells.