Evie Garrett Dennis Campus

Designed and built in just 16 months, the Evie Garrett Dennis Campus is the first Tilt-Up school for the Denver Public School system and one of the fastest-designed and -constructed K-12 schools in Colorado.

To facilitate construction scheduling, the campus (composed of three educational academies and a Student Union) was designed entirely with the use of Revit, a 3-D Building Information Modeling software. All four buildings feature exterior load-bearing Tilt-Up walls, while the Union building also includes some interior Tilt-Up.

The buildings incorporate several different finishes, including painted panels with articulated rustications and cast-in brick, plus integrally colored and textured panels designed to represent Colorado's topography. Leaning panels at entries and classrooms add further architectural flare.

The close proximity of the academies necessitated an immense focus on panel layout, requiring numerous casting beds.

The split-level structure of the Union - at the east and west elevations, panels were used to retain earth instead of cast-in-place concrete walls - created further casting-bed challenges.

With its use of ground-source heat pumps, a 300-kilowatt solar energy system, customized daylight glazing, light harvesting, and advanced digital controls, the project has already been called one of the most energy efficient and state-of-the-art schools in Colorado.