UTOPIA is not a place. Utopia is an idea we create - an image cut from a beautiful, perfect form. But how could a place reveal utopian thinking, asking questions about our being in the world: what it is, what it means, what it might become? Proposing a major shift in our allocation of resources and spending, this project initiates a nationwide network of defense sites retrofitted as art research and production communities. The shift of emphasis from military and defense to cultural advancement through art would bring the arts to the foreground in everyday life as meaningful and valuable practices. Focused on retrofitting Cheyenne Mountain Nuclear Bunker as one such facility, this design would transform the site to accommodate large-scale art research and production with abundant work space, public exhibition halls, a sculpture garden, and a secluded housing community to fit a simple, monastic lifestyle.
Fall 2014 // Studio 06 instructed by Jody Beck // University of Colorado Denver