The MCFA Board spent three days late last week holding a ‘retreat’ with its architects, 51% Studios.  This was an intense, focused meeting bringing all concerned parties together to confirm key aspects of the Masterplan and to progress the design framework.  This is a particularly valuable process for building projects that must incorporate the wishes of many stake-holders, a Board of Directors and rich site characteristics.  Charles Nearburg kindly made Glenmora Lodge at Broadacres Ranch available for the retreat, and this facilitated a level of concentration that significantly helped the sessions.  Delicious catering completed the perfect setting.

The architects came prepared with many visuals and strategies to stimulate thinking, including the “Beauty Pageant” powerpoint presentation which contained a well-chosen range of architectural examples to jostle thinking about possibilities for the future.

Perhaps the most important results of the Retreat were confirmations that:

• The main buildings to be placed on the “middle bench” for improved spatial identity and views, better protection from the weather and proximity to Willow Creek.

• The main indoor arena should be an attractive version of a pre-engineered steel structure and that the Community Recreation Centre would be a purpose-designed feature building.

• Fund-raising should proceed based on the goal of building the four main buildings of the Masterplan as a set.

Participants at the Retreat were excited to develop an aesthetic strategy for the future design process, one based on an attitude toward building that mirrors that seen in the mountain heritage of Creede, rather than the mere adoption of a popular style.