Bison Ridge Recreation Center

Commerce City, CO
Construction Cost: $34,000,000
Area / Square Feet: 114,000
Occupancy Date: April 2018

Described as the Prairie Gateway, Commerce City is a growing community with a contrasting character in both industrial and farming heritage. With one foot rooted in the past and an eye toward the future, the citizens envisioned a building of timeless tradition in modern clothes.

The Bison Ridge Recreation Center is a full-service community amenity providing programming for sport, social, health and wellness opportunities. From the earliest sketches, the formal organization consisted of a careful composition of gabled volumes intended to recall the “homestead” — a cluster of agrarian buildings. One of the biggest challenges was breaking down the scale of this large structure to a more pedestrian level, so the barns are rotated and split open to bring in daylight.

The same character of materials leads patrons through the interior spaces with clear views to the activity areas. These include a large community center for public events, a leisure pool with an interactive waterslide, a full-service gymnastics studio to serve as the home base for community programming, a large basketball and volleyball gymnasium, state-of-the-art weight and cardio equipment, a technology lounge, and a number of group training opportunities that include an outdoor rooftop fitness deck with a stunning view of Long’s Peak.