Hello!

For the past four years, the Environmental Design program of University of Colorado Boulder has partnered with the Lama Foundation, to help built structures and community at their retreat center in the mountains of New Mexico. The Environmental Design Program at CU Boulder is a multidisciplinary design program where students learn design skills in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning, as well as Design Studies. The Program of Environmental Design (ENVD) is part of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Our junior level class is currently designing a bathhouse for the Lama Foundation. We are made up of 15 students, and lead by Professors Jade Polizzi and Stephen Eckert. Jade and Stephen own their own design firm, and have been doing design-build classes for years. In the past, we have made cabins, or “huts”, for visitor to stay in, this year, the Lama Foundation requested we build showers as their “temporary” showers are now almost 20 years old. This class is an opportunity for us to gets hands on experience with a real life client, and add a built project to our portfolios while helping out a community partner in need. 

The Lama Foundation is an environmentally friendly  retreat center located north of Taos New Mexico, just south of the Colorado border, within the Carson National Forest. Lama is a facility that encourages community through education and connection to one’s environment.  In 1996, the Lama Foundation fell victim of a broad forest fire, that damaged and destroyed large parts of their community.  The name “lama” actually has no connection to the animal, but comes from the Portuguese word for mud, “la lama”.  Visitors come to Lama for a variety of reasons; a common one being to get away from their normal routine and to discover something new about themselves. In the Winter, there are approximately a dozen residents who reside on the site to help maintain the land. The daily routine at Lama includes a variety of practices and rituals, including meditation, shabbat, deep listening workshops, drum circles, and more. For more information on the history of Lama and details of their foundation, visit their website here: http://www.lamafoundation.org/ 

Although we are partially funded by both the Lama Foundation and University of Colorado, our sustainable ideas and creative designs are starting to exceed those limits. We are looking for companies, organizations and individuals to help, by donating to our budget, and expanding our projects goals. Currently, our class is in the process of finalizing our designs for the bathhouse, and will be going down to New Mexico in May-June 2016 to physically build the structure ourselves. Money given will help us restore the community and will go directly to construction materials for the bathhouse.  Any donations to our cause will greatly help our mission, and would help us achieve our dreams. If you are so inclined to donate we would appreciate it before mid-may so we can get all of our materials necessary to complete the project.

Thank you so much for your consideration!