Kent Denver School has long been among the best private schools in the region for academics and athletics.  In 2004, the school recognized that their fine and performing arts programs needed improvements.  Among the needs that were identified were: A new main theater/auditorium space capable of holding a wide variety of presentation types as well as providing a flexible seating arrangement for 250 or 500 audience members; a flexible ‘workshop’ theater that would serve as a classroom for teaching the basics of theatrics; dressing rooms and other facilities support the new venues; fine art studios with exterior space to expand classes outdoors; music rehearsal rooms; and faculty offices.  The Arts building is located very near the most iconic building on the campus, the historic El Pomar theater, designed by a well known architect and disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright.  The Center for the Arts will bridge the gap between the distinctive aesthetic of El Pomar and the more restrained architecture of the rest of the campus.  The school grounds, occupying over 200 acres of land, is very pastoral, with much of the campus an undeveloped expanse of trees and native grasses. 

The Center for the Arts is a facility also serves many master-planning functions beyond simply meeting campus programmatic needs.  The new building will serve as a common space for the middle and upper school, which currently operate in separate facilities.  The building will reconcile and formalize many pedestrian paths that currently exist on site, allowing people to continue to move throughout the campus in ways that are familiar and convenient.  The main lobby of the building is located adjacent to the primary pedestrian spine for the campus and will enliven the path by providing exterior social spaces on either side of the path and expand the ‘lobby’ in favorable weather.