New School of Music & Chapel

The new Armstrong Center at the Lakewood campus of Colorado Christian University serves as the school’s academic and spiritual cornerstone. It is the fifth addition to the campus since 2015, and it allows the School of Music to return to the main campus. It houses an expanded library, a 500-seat performance theater, and the University’s first dedicated chapel.

Salas O’Brien provided cold-formed steel (CFS) design for this 60,000-square-foot project, including CFS framing, theater cloud anchorage, and band rehearsal screen supports. We also designed the canted CFS furring walls that transition into vertical walls, the CFS framing that supports the welded steel ledgers for the heavy stone finish, and the two-story wall studs that end in a cantilevered window sill. The new Armstrong Center is an excellent example of the versatility of CFS. It is used with standard building materials, including concrete, steel, wood, and masonry throughout the interior and exterior of the building.

COMPLETION YEAR

2024

CONSTRUCTION COST

$40 million

SIZE

60,000 square feet

PROJECT PARTNERS

Phase 2 Company, Saunders Construction

PHOTO CREDIT

Jeffrey Grounds Photography