Our Vision #10: Hostel & Cabins [2/2]

Additional Housing

Recycled materials from the site and environs could be used to construct additional low-impact housing on the site.

Piet Hein Eek's log cabins imagined at the Ute Ulay

Dutch designer and architect Piet Hein Eek is known for his use of scrap-wood furniture and recycled building materials. Pictured here is a log cabin he designed for the entertainer Hans Liberg. The structural elements consist of a salvaged steel frame, log exterior, sheep’s wool for insulation, and painted plywood interiors. Set on wheels, the cabin can be easily relocated.

Our Vision #9: Hostel & Cabins [1/2]

This is the first element within STAGE II

miner’s boardinghouse

 The miner’s boardinghouse and the two cabins will be a revenue-generating hostel, reflecting the buildings’ original use.  Structures will undergo a deep energy retrofit to preserve historic character while becoming energy efficient.  Thoughtful interior decoration could interpret the site’s history. 

Winterization will be self-contained in the boardinghouse, with cabins for summer use.  The main structure will include private and group bedrooms, hot showers, plumbing, gathering space, and a communal kitchen.  Other amenities could include interpretive resources, educational programming, and a small-scale farming endeavor with chickens or alpacas.  A live-in site caretaker, potentially a VISTA volunteer or artist-in-residence, could handle online reservations, light housekeeping, and greeting duties. 

Marketing would target ice climbers, backpackers, corporate retreats, family reunions, and student groups.  A price spectrum could be implemented to include a special rate for locals and work-trades for low-income visitors; one or both cabins may be renovated into more private, rustic luxury accommodations. 

Creative interior and exterior wallpapering, drawing on the structure’s original wallpaper and Victorian patterns, could emphasize the hidden history of domesticity within the mining landscape.  

hostel or cabin interior

Our Vision #8: Early Art Integration [4/4]

Adit Closure: Aeolian Harps.

In the immediate future, adits at the Ute Ulay site will need to be closed off. Usually this is done by placing grills or gates at the entrance of the adit.

The gate structure could be modified to include aeolian harps that take advantage of the natural movement of air through the mine.  In winter, the warmer air inside the adit rushes upward through the mine shaft; in summer, when the air inside is cooler than the outside air, the flow is reversed.  Aeolian harps are sensitive to the movement of air and produce different sounds depending on the force of the wind. Different tonal ranges are created through the use of differing tensions in the metal construction of the harp.

Aeolian Harps in the Ute Ulay adits

Our Vision #7: Early Art Integration [3/4]

Shaft & Adit Periscope and Diorama

The head shaft and lower adit next to the mill site are connected deep underground.  Before shafts and adits are closed for safety, installation of a periscope or live video feed could draw visitors, generate revenue, and create a sense of the unseen connections underground.

adit periscope

Alternatively, adits could be closed several yards back so that visitors could enter the adit briefly and experience the space of the mine; rock walls could be painted iridescent gold or silver.

Another option might be to have an artist install a peephole tube from outside the adit or shaft into a diorama created just inside the mine. A visitor might see a tiny scene or collection of precious minerals inside. 

Our Vision #6: Early Art Integration [2/4]

Structure Splinting

There are two frame structures on the Ute Ulay site in need of immediate repair, the head frame and the remains of the flume head at the former mill site. Both of these historical fragments communicate how the mine worked at the height of its productive life. 

historic structure splinting

In medical parlance, bone fractures can be held together using internal and external orthopedic metal splints. If we consider the frame structures as skeletons of the industrial past, an aesthetic sculptural component of the remediation process could be making visible methods of repair.