University of Colorado, Williams Village Mural Project

Williams Village East, Boulder, Colorado, 2021

New Dorms… Awesome Murals (!) at University of Colorado – Boulder

On a recent, very brief, return to the States, I took time out to visit the new University of Colorado (CU) student dorm buildings at Baseline Road and 34th Street in Boulder. (The above photograph shows one of these new buildings.)

Why?

Well, 16 of my photographs (digital files, actually) were purchased back in 2019 for the purpose of placing large murals at the entrances and in the hallways on each floor of the new dorms, and I really wanted to see how the project came out. I was quite pleased. (Perhaps my only disappointment was that I was not credited as the photographer on each image as stipulated in the contract… aargh!).

The students now have some impressive–may I say almost luxurious–new digs wherein thay can rest their weary bones after a day of studying (or a night of hard partying… it is CU, after all). And maybe, just maybe, my photographs will motivate them to go explore the mountains…

More Megapixels… More Possibilities

And the murals…! Well, it certainly proved the capability of the D850 with its nearly 46 megapixels and the possibilities that open up with these massive digital files. (I’ll read this last statement in ten years and laugh, I’m sure, as progress progresses.)

I shot most, if not all of these photographs on the tripod, with mirror-lock-up, shutter delay, and so on, so that certainly helped maximize image quality… and straight out of the camera you get a pretty big file even before enlargement: 8256 x 5504 pixels at 300ppi, which measures out to just under 30 inches x 20 inches.

I have very successfully and routinely enlarged to 40 inches on the long side with minimal loss of definition, and had previously sold one other file to be made into a wall-sized mural at a New York gym (although the latter was an abstract that didn’t require super-high resolution to be effective).

So… I was very curious to see how a standard landscape might look when stretched from floor to ceiling on a hallway wall where viewing distance would be roughly three to six feet and resolution would be a factor.

The murals, layered with quotes from famous authors and historical figures in the shape of the corresponding floor, didn’t disappoint. Yes, you can go BIG with the D850 files!

The Contractor

If you are interested in the details of the process involved, try contacting the contractor below. Heather should be able to give you an overview of the process.

Heather Heiland, LEED AP BD+C
Project Manager
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
7800 East Union Avenue, Suite 100
Denver, Colorado 80237
Phone: 720-529-5500
Mobile: 720-300-9844
www.whiting-turner.com

The Murals..

The following are simply iPhone snaps I quickly made as I stopped at each floor of one of the two buildings, so forgive the lousy color quality, definition, etc, etc, and so on, yada, yada, yada…

All the murals are in black and white, and they cover a cross-section of Colorado mountain landscapes. Here is one of the smaller entrance murals:

CUs Williams Village Mural Project, #1, Boulder, Colorado, 2021

In the lobby area, the same image is repeated, but in triptych form and a bit larger:

CUs Williams Village Mural Project, #2, Boulder, Colorado, 2021

On the first floor, just opposite the elevator, a misty winter photo of the Maiden and the Devil’s Thumb, iconic formations which are found in the Flatirons above Boulder and the University: