Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center Living Building Challenge Video Series

"Our Road to Sustainability"

Video #1: Introduction

The new Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center is the most sustainable high-altitude structure in the country, if not the world. It is designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification, a globally recognized symbol of sustainable design and is also striving to achieve Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification, a two-year certification process for highly sustainable net positive buildings. Currently, no other buildings in the state of Colorado are fully LBC certified.

Pikes Peak – America’s Mountain has launched a multipart video series called, “Our Road to Sustainability” that explains the seven performance areas, or petals, of the LBC; elements of which are integrated into the design and operation of the Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center. The series includes commentary from USDA Forest Service representatives; Pikes Peak – America’s Mountain project managers; designers from RTA Architects; project leaders from GE Johnson; Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers; and other stakeholders.

Join us for the LBC video series that answers the question, “What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place?” and to learn more the sustainable elements of this incredible project!

Sprouts Farmers Market Coming to South Nevada Avenue's Creekwalk

Arizona-based healthy living grocery Sprouts Farmers Market will be adding a fourth location in Colorado Springs adjacent to the new Creekwalk shopping center, also designed by RTA, on South Nevada Avenue. This 23,646 square foot Sprouts is part of a bigger effort to transform the area into a prosperous retail and tourist destination and we’re thrilled to be involved in both of these exciting projects.

The newest Sprouts location is expected to open in the fall of 2022. Learn more about Creekwalk here.

Sprouts CS Gazette Render 2021.09.01

Peak Vista Health Center Downtown Breaks Ground

What a great start to the week! We were excited to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Peak Vista Health Center Downtown with Peak Vista leadership, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, and the Springs Rescue Mission.

With expected completion in Q1 2022, the new health center will serve residents experiencing homelessness in the Downtown Colorado Springs area. It will also be an expansion of Peak Vista’s whole-person, family health center model, providing medical, dental, social support, and behavioral health services in a patient-centered accessible design. Read more about Peak Vista Health Center Downtown here.

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RTA's Mike Riggs takes on the Ascent

RTA cheered our own Mike Riggs as he took on the Pikes Peak Marathon & Ascent, one of the oldest continually held half-marathons in the US. Beginning in Manitou Springs, more than 1400 runners made their way up to the summit of Pikes Peak in this year’s Ascent. The 13.3-mile race climbs about 7,800 vertical feet, making it a grueling uphill battle.

This was Mike’s first Ascent, and his time placed him in the top 26% of all runners in this year’s race! Way to go Mike!!

Follow our page for a full interview with Mike and how his work as Project Architect and Construction Administrator for the new Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center provided him with years of “on-the-job-training” for this challenging event.

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Pueblo Community Health Center's East Side Clinic Construction Update

Construction for Pueblo Community Health Center’s East Side Clinic continues! As the triple pane fiberglass windows and solar panels on the building and parking canopies are installed, crews continue to work toward fall completion. Read more here about this great addition to Pueblo’s east side, also the first emerging Zero Energy outpatient health care clinic in Colorado according to the New Buildings Institute. 

Ride Along with Travel + Leisure Magazine to the Summit of Pikes Peak

Travel + Leisure Magazine recently rode the refurbished Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway to the summit of Pikes Peak and visited the new Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center! 
 
Newly refurbished Broadmoor Manitou Pikes Peak Cog Railway
 
New Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center

St. Francis Medical Center Construction Update

Construction continues at St. Francis Medical Center's fifth and sixth floor Critical Care and Intermediate Care bed wing addition! The building exterior envelope is framed and sheathed, and windows are being installed. Stucco and roofing are also underway, and interior MEP systems installation and fire proofing are ongoing. Interior framing, interior finishes, and the receiving dock steel framing and decking are all soon to follow.

Be sure to follow us for more updates on this great project as Penrose-St. Francis Health Services continues to expand to serve the healthcare needs of El Paso County.

 

UCCS William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center Winner of DBIA Rocky Mountain Chapter Education Category

We are thrilled to announce that the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center on the UCCS campus has been presented with the highest honor in the Education category of the annual Design-Build Institute of America Rocky Mountain Region awards program which recognizes "Design-Build Done Right"; exemplary design-build project(s) that resulted in achieving best-value while demonstrating effective schedule and cost performance, as well as exemplify the principles of effective processes, interdisciplinary teamwork, problem-solving, and excellence in design. This is the second year running that an RTA-designed project has won the DBIA RM Education category.

Congratulations to our amazing design-build team! Read more about this amazing project here.

UCCS Hybl Exterior Photo EntrancewithDBIALogo

Surprise Office Field Trip!

It was a typical Wednesday afternoon at the RTA office as everyone started migrating to the conference room for a mandatory 401k meeting. As everyone ushered in, we were given a pink slip with an undisclosed location on it and were instructed to gather our things and go there. The RTA team was a bit perplexed but slowly everyone left the office to venture to this mystery location.

Lo and behold, we arrived at Pike’s Peak Bowling Alley where no meeting was to take place. After bowling a few games, winners were announced and awards were distributed to the exemplary bowlers and teams. What a fun day!

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Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern Colorado Golf Tournament 2021

A great day for a great cause!  RTA was honored to sponsor and participate in the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern Colorado Golf Tournament. Participating with Kevin and Paul from RTA was Jim Doak, Director of Facilities, Peak Vista Community Health Centers and Tim Barber, Director of Operations/Maintenance, Strasburg School District 31J.

We are proud to support a client who provides such wonderful support for families with critically ill children.

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