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Steamboat architects celebrate art in their work during Colorado Architecture Month

Nicole Inglis
Steamboat Architectural Associates donated 1,500 hours of time to create preliminary conceptual designs for the downtown Chief Theater. An update on the theater’s renovation project will be presented Friday during First Friday Artwalk.
Courtesy Photo

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Find a list of participating First Friday Artwalk venues here.

Colorado Architecture Month events in Steamboat

April 5: Reception and presentation on restoring the Chief Theater, "Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio" screening, 5 p.m., Chief Theater

April 12: "Bird's Nest: Herzog & de Meuron in China" screening, 7 p.m., Bud Werner Memorial Library

April 19: "My Architect: A Son's Journey" screening, 7 p.m., Chief Theater

April 26: "Sketches of Frank Gehry" screening, 7 p.m., Chief Theater





Steamboat Architectural Associates donated 1,500 hours of time to create preliminary conceptual designs for the downtown Chief Theater. An update on the theater’s renovation project will be presented Friday during First Friday Artwalk.

— Some call him a dinosaur, but Bill Rangitsch doesn’t know about that.

It’s because he still sketches out designs by hand in all of his work at Steamboat Architectural Associates.

It’s the art behind the architecture he hopes everyone can celebrate during the third year of Colorado Architecture Month this April.



Local architects are celebrating with a First Friday Artwalk event and a film series this month at the Chief Theater.

“I think people associate architects with doing these big, grand monumental buildings,” Rangitsch said. “But mostly, you’re doing a simple little hot tub addition deck; you’re remodeling your living room. An architect looks at the whole picture.”



And one of those pictures will be the host of Friday’s kick-off event.

With Phase 1 of the renovation of the historic downtown Chief Theater underway, Rangitsch, a board member at Friends of the Chief, will be giving an update on the project during the First Friday event.

The reception begins at 5 p.m. with appetizers, and Rangitsch will speak at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m., there will be a screening of the film “Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio” in one of the small movie theaters.

Steamboat Architectural Associates has donated 1,500 hours of time to create preliminary conceptual designs of what a completed phase two of the Chief’s renovation could look like.

Rangitsch calls it “what it wants to be when it grows up.”

“It wants to be a multiuse theater and cultural center,” he said. “Not just theater and not just dance, but the ability to have meetings there, talks, show movies.”

Although the building has some limitations, like the fact it can’t be widened, the plan is to re-create the look of the outside of the building in 1938.

“It’s something we feel strongly about,” Rangitsch said.

And Colorado Architecture Month doesn’t end there.

Every Friday in April, there will be a film screening at Chief Theater or Bud Werner Memorial Library.

Subjects range from the architects behind the Beijing National Stadium (the Bird’s Nest) to design greats like Louis Kahn and Frank Gehry. The free events begin at 7 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.aiacolorado.org.

Find a list of participating First Friday Artwalk venues here.

To reach Nicole Inglis, call 970-871-4204 or email ninglis@ExploreSteamboat.com


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