Capital Construction and Planning

The Capital Construction and Planning unit coordinates university-wide activity and reporting for external constituents. It maintains core data on CU capital construction activities and provides support for the Design Review Board and the Regents Finance Subcommittee.

Board of Regents Finance Subcommittee

Capital Project Dashboard

Design Review Board

The mission of the University of Colorado Design Review Board (DRB) is to provide review and advice to parties charged with the design and development of proposed capital planning and development projects at all campus properties under control of the Board of Regents.

Meeting Dates, Agendas and Minutes

DRB Process and Procedures - Updated 2022

Members

Michael O. Winters, FAIA, Architect - Appointed December 2014 (chair)

Michael Winters is a Partner and Director of Design and Interiors at Fentress Architects, where he has worked for over 34 years. Michael has been the Lead Designer for some of the firm’s largest and most complex projects locally and internationally. His projects include Denver International Airport, the Colorado Convention Center, 1999 Broadway, Clark County Government Center, San Jose International Airport, and Kuwait Business Center. His career portfolio totals over $9.5 billion, and has won over 115 design awards, including 10 national design competition wins. Prior to joining Fentress, Michael worked for Skidmore Owings and Merrill for three years. He received his undergraduate architectural degree with High Honors from the University of Wisconsin, and his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado.

Jody Beck, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Architecture and Planning, CU Denver – Appointed November 2022

Jody Beck is an Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape and serves as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado Denver. He is a registered architect in the State of Colorado and prior to returning to the University of Pennsylvania for his PhD, he worked across a broad range of building typologies. He has written two books. The first, John Nolen and the Metropolitan Landscape, focuses on the political underpinnings of the work of John Nolen – a landscape architect and the first person to take the professional title of city planner. The second book, Landscape and Utopia, brings forward the radical political challenge to capitalism and the landscapes that embodied that challenge in the utopian proposals of Ebenezer Howard, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright. His research interests are grounded in the politics of space and in particular how these politics play out in the arid West. He brings a firm belief in the importance of joy and delight in the built environment to all his work.

Sarah Semple Brown, FAIA, Architect - Appointed August 2016

As co-founder and design principal of Semple Brown Design since 1982, Sarah Semple Brown’s thoughtful, layered approach to the design process is guided by her innate ability to genuinely understand her clients and their desires. She has made a substantial impact on the development of Denver’s built environment, and many of her projects have involved highly visible restorations and adaptive reuse interventions of historic buildings that bring great character and a sense of history to the Mile High City. Her award-winning projects are infused with simple clean concepts, depth, warmth, and quality – and are always respectful of the site.

Tom Hootman , AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, CPHC Principal, Form & Flow - Appointed April 2021

Tom Hootman is an architect, engineer, designer, and author. He is the founder of Form & Flow, a building performance design consultancy for next-generation architecture. He works with clients to achieve healthy, resilient, zero energy buildings, and regenerative outcomes with positive social, environmental, and economic impacts. Tom brings over 25 years of industry experience and has experience leading integrated design within architecture, MEP engineering, and energy modeling practices. He is an early pioneer in zero energy and has worked on over 15 zero energy projects. Tom has also authored "Net Zero Energy Design," published by Wiley.

Laurel Raines, FASLA, PLA, Founding Principal, Dig Studio Inc. – Appointed April 2023

Laurel's range of project types are broad based, design focused, and contribute to the well-being and health of communities and the environment. Laurel has helped transform the aesthetic of Colorado landscapes from City Beautiful to new landscape City Ecological vernacular, reflective of our high plains desert. She has written design standards updating naturalized landscape materials and maintenance practices for communities and has worked to educate clients and citizens on understanding the benefits and reasoning for integrating water conserving landscapes into community amenity areas.

Laurel has led the design of park and play environments, recreation centers, performance venues and parkways from planning through design and implementation. She served as Principal-in-Charge of the award-winning Paco Sanchez Park in Denver, a new generation of parks which promote multi-generational health and combat obesity through design and layout of the play experience to promote movement. She is currently leading the design of several multi-family projects, the main plaza at National Western, and an inclusive play environment in Loveland.

Involvement in the community is important to Laurel, and she sits on several boards including the Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities and as a mayoral appointee to the Cherry Creek North Design Review Board.

Laurel studied Plant and Soil Science/Ornamental Horticulture at the University of Vermont, followed by receiving a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard.

Christopher Shears, FAIA, Architect – Appointed April 2023

Chris Shears is founding principal of Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects. Chris is a strong planner and designer with over 40 years of experience involving projects nationally and internationally. His interest and expertise, focuses on the planning and design of complex downtown urban infill and missed use projects.

A passionate weaver of urban fabric, Christopher Shears, FAIA leads in expanding the possibilities of planning, zoning, and design to catalytically transform cities and how people live in them. Working with city officials for more than thirty-years to expand established entitlements while engaging communities and stakeholders, Shears specializes in creative interpretation of zoning ordinances and design standards to achieve economically – sound contextual solutions. Shears’ sensitive infill and transit-oriented design in LoDo and adjacent neighborhoods encompasses over a billion dollars of development. Chris earned a BArch (with distinction) from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s Degree, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University.

Kori Donaldson (ex officio) - Senior Director for Capital Construction and Planning, University of Colorado

Kori joined the University of Colorado System office in December 2019. She has more than 14 years of experience in budgeting, capital planning, and public policy. In her current role, Kori supports the CU System CFO and leadership on issues related to capital budgeting, financing, and planning. Kori also serves as an administrator and ex officio member of the Design Review Board.

From August 2007 to December 2019, Kori worked for Colorado Legislative Council, the nonpartisan policy and research agency for the Colorado General Assembly. In February 2009, Kori was appointed as the lead staff of the Capital Development Committee (CDC), a role she held until she left the agency to work at CU. In her role as lead staff of the CDC, Kori worked with every state agency and institution of higher education. She oversaw the analysis of all funding requests associated with capital construction projects, advised the committee about the capital process, and briefed the committee on policy issues of interest.

In addition to staffing the CDC, Kori staffed both the House and Senate Finance Committees, published memos and issue briefs on a wide variety of infrastructure and financing topics, and wrote fiscal notes on bills addressing issues such as state construction contracting, state procurement, and certificates of participation. She also served as a team lead, managed construction projects paid through the legislative budget in three different buildings, and wrote for the Blue Book.

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