Washington Village Wins Congress of New Urbanism Award

Sopher Sparn Architects is pleased to be the recipient of the Congress of New Urbanism (“CNU”) Colorado Charter Award for “Best Built Project: Community Building.” The award recognizes Washington Village, a mixed-use, co-housing community that the firm designed located at 1215 Cedar Avenue in Boulder.

A jury comprised of designers, architects, planners, and engineers from CNU Colorado reviewed numerous entries and awarded six projects representing the best in new urbanism. An awards ceremony will be held April 13, 2018.

Washington Village incorporates the adaptive reuse of an historic school building at the center of a prominent site in North Boulder. The project consists of seven multi-family buildings and six single-family structures, totaling 36 units with 10 permanently affordable units on site.

Designed according to LEED-ND criteria, Washington Village utilizes rooftop solar and ground source heating systems and represents a national model for environmentally responsible, sustainable neighborhood development. The project, described by the judges as “an impressive rehabilitation and infill project” involved an extensive community review process and successfully integrated a wide range of input from community leaders, neighbors and city officials.

The Broadway Building, the final and most complex building of the project has 12 units, four of them being permanently affordable, and many co-housing features including a community kitchen, common area living room and workout space.

Principals Adrian Sopher and Stephen Sparn commented, “We are honored to receive this special award from the CNU Colorado, a prestigious organization dedicated to creating vibrant and walkable cities.”