The Sugar Beet District

Project Name: The Sugar Beet District

Year: 2013

Client: Colorado Growth Fund, PBC

Employer: The Kubala Washatko Architects

Location: Fort Collins, Colorado

Keywords: Ecological restoration, Infill development, Live-work spaces

Challenge: Turning a historic factory town into an attraction for artisans, artists, and entrepreneurs to live and work.

Solution: This project was a departure from an industrial (19-20th century) to an ecological (21st century) framing of Utopia. In the ecological order, the 127-acre urban district was designed as an extension of the land and the dry creek. The infill development is home to 3 million sqf of commercial industry, aquaponic production, retail, farmers’ market, offices, mixed-use residential, artisan live-work spaces, solar farm, breweries and distilleries, a wind tunnel testing facility, a malting operation, and a center for the arts -- designed by transforming an existing old factory building.

The retention ponds and bioswales became interstitial spaces between buildings and the dry creek – they were designed for art, performance, and social activity. Turning the ponds’ grade change into a sittable space not only controls stormwater fluctuations, but also provides pedestrian access to the dry creek’s bed. The bed serves as a social, historical, and educational medium – it is an egg bank for aquatic biota, a habitat for terrestrial biota, a storage site for organic matter such as leaf litter, and a water carpet play area for children.