Mancos Commons
Mancos, Colorado | 2024
In this spectacular setting nestled at the base of the Las Platas mountains with Mesa Verde to the West, the first building to be constructed in downtown Mancos in over 100 years features a community art-making studio and active space with a new street-facing community plaza, affordable housing, and wildlife corridor adjacent to the Mancos River, a tributary of the Colorado Rivershed.
Kina worked with the team during the final phases of construction documentation and was responsible for the exterior design and site planning. In this, she worked with the client group to create a flexible outdoor entry foyer, envisioning a space that could be used to accommodate outdoor printing workshops for the Press, varied community events, and be an area of contemplation and respite for passersby.
The exterior design is an anchor for the transparent, daylit building that enhances views thru the building to all outside areas, with the concept that this constructed landscape evocative of the native Four Corners landscape can inspire, delight and become part of the artistic and creative process.
In the southern site area adjacent to the river, is an area for growing native and dye plants to be used in the printmaking processes for the press, as well as zone that acts as a conduit for directing and filtering run off and stormwater flow from the Northern Plaza and the building roof. Drought tolerance and ease of maintenance were the primary goals for the planting areas, as well as the invitation for non-human inhabitants from the meandering river corridor to access the site before heading back into the larger watershed, that this project is a part of.