2013 AIA National Convention to visit Dairy Center for the Arts

The 2013 AIA National Convention being held in Denver June 20-22 will also include a trip to Boulder.  Boulder architect Stephen Sparn will lead a group of architects from across the country on a tour of Boulder’s Dairy Center for the Arts, the multi-facility gallery, performance space, and arts cinema housed in a renovated old dairy plant.  The tour is to highlight the adaptive reuse of this former dairy building into Boulder’s largest arts center.The 2013 convention will examine architects’ roles as civic leaders, showcasing ways to be vocal and thoughtful advocates who can advance awareness of how architecture makes people’s lives better.

“The Dairy is a wonderful example of bettering lives through the preservation and creative use of an abandoned, historic building,” said Sparn.

The visit to Boulder kicks off the convention on June 19th with a short film in The Dairy’s Boedecker Theater created by Boulder’s SSArchitects that provides a three-dimensional fly-through view of The Dairy when the final phases of its renovation are completed.Following the film and a tour of The Dairy, the group will enjoy dinner at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, where participants will have the opportunity to talk with local architects about the Boulder design community.

According to Sparn, “One of the goals of the 2013 AIA convention is to share our visions of how design creates value and the vision that has been created for The Dairy is a perfect example.”