Emerald Workshops by Independent Architecture

Emerald Workshops

Phase one of Emerald Workshops, a new mixed-use campus in Frederick, Colorado, is now complete. Designed by Paul Andersen of Independent Architecture, this development of 56 customizable units over eight buildings fosters a social commercial environment that bridges the gap between an urban main street and spacious rural landscape. Responding to the changing landscape of retail, work and the city, Emerald Workshops is a new typology for an emerging community and its economy.

Its light-industrial/office zoning is affordable and highly flexible, making these units the ideal space for entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses. The units’ 26-feet-high ceilings can accommodate industrial equipment or a mezzanine level. This allows units to adapt to a wide variety of purposes, a fact already reflected in the first cohort of tenants, recently moved in, including an architecture firm, mobility retailer, cross fit gym, apian textile artisans and construction firm.

Location
The campus is ideally located just 20 minutes from Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins, and in close proximity to I-25, on Hwy-52. Just minutes away from the new Amazon fulfillment center along I-25, the property’s accessibility in this fast-growing part of the United States makes it the ideal hub for emerging entrepreneurs, innovators and retailers.

A place for community
The campus is more than simply light-industrial space: this mixed-use property has also been meticulously designed to encourage social interaction among tenants and visitors. Large-scale windows and operable glass garage doors create an effect of transparency and light. Planters, lights and transform the parking lot — an often-underwhelming design element — into an outdoor co-working office.

The exterior’s visually striking graphic pattern, created through bold contemporary shingling, also reflects the region’s traditional Western false front vernacular. Architect Paul Andersen of Independent Architecture says: “The buildings are a new take on Colorado’s historic architecture. They combine the false front commercial architecture of the Old West with industrial construction that has been common since the 1960s. We selected materials for their timelessness, durability, and clean details — in the buildings and the surrounding landscape.

The effect of our design approach is to strike a balance between familiar and new architecture, to make a place that is deeply connected to our region and, in its own subtle way, unlike any other commercial project.” Phase one of the building is now complete, and all units are currently occupied. Phase two is currently under construction, and full completion of the project is scheduled for May 2020. Source by Independent Architecture and photos Courtesy of PLANE-SITE.

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