Located in the Greeley metro area in Weld County, Colorado, Keenesburg is a charming community with a rich history in farming, ranching, and railroads. The Keenesburg school was constructed in 1927 and educated the students of the community for 75 years. It expanded many times over the years with population growth, and in the 1950s additional buildings were placed around the original red brick structure to accommodate more students. The school was decommissioned in 2002 and has since fallen somewhat into disrepair, being used primarily for storage by the Weld Co. school district.
The objectives of this project was to evaluate how the historic school building could best be adapted for new uses. Community members prioritized the following goals: provide new gathering spaces, celebrate the character of the building through adaptive-reuse, and reinforce a sense of place and identity by revitalizing a historic structure. The full scope of the project included public engagement and feedback, site analysis, precedent studies, conceptual plans, preliminary and final designs.