Windler/1881 Farm Park

1881 is set at a Colorado Centennial Homestead and one of Aurora’s last remaining vernacular farms. At its height in the early twentieth century, the Windler Farm measured some 800 acres, functioning as a dairy farm and cattle ranch. Over time, segments of the farm have been sold off, and its buildings left in disrepair. However, its location on the high prairie and the remaining buildings continue to convey the story of the Windler family and represent early dryland farming practices in eastern Colorado.

The new 1881 Farm Park aims to be an iconic agricultural exploratorium for the Windler community, the City of Aurora and the Denver Metropolitan region at large. 1881 synthesizes various opportunities for communal gathering, learning, playing and eating between a community building, called “Windler Hall”, a farm-to-fork restaurant, a market and educational building, and community greenhouse. The design imagines a regenerative landscape that incorporates restored prairie grasslands and pasture, no-till agriculture, food production, greenhouses, hydroponics, livestock, apiary and permaculture plantings.