Located on a former sugar beet field, this cultural institution harkens a new era of identity, stature and heritage for the growing community of Longmont. Embracing its agricultural roots, its setting on the Colorado's Eastern Plain, and casting a longing view towards the Rocky Mountains, the new cultural/recreation/education campus is organized around a central irrigation/drainage pond.
The site contains three buildings relating to each other in form, mass and materials, yet each is distinct and expressive of its own function. The 25,000 square-foot museum encloses a courtyard that is used as an amphitheater for events, galleries of Longmont and the St. Vrain Valley's history, short-term exhibition space, educational classrooms, an auditorium, a hands-on children's gallery, research space, carpentry and paint shops, storage, office space, a library, conference rooms, and a gift shop.
The building's forms reflect the architecturally significant, though rapidly disappearing, silos and shed structures that dot the agricultural landscape. The forms are finished in local and naturally weathering materials of buff sandstone, brick and cedar with just a hint of zinc siding. The Longmont Museum & Cultural Center preserves the area's history for all to enjoy.
