Auraria was supposed to be square. Thanks to preservationists, it's only square-ish.

The original design was called a five-foot-by-five-foot grid, said Bill Trimble, the campus structural trades manager in 2005. Horizontally and vertically, the entire place would be divisible into units of five feet: every wall, every column, every window. The classroom buildings are what the whole campus could have been.

"Boring as heck if you ask me," Trimble said.

But strong: Auraria handles nearly twice the traffic of other colleges. "Most campuses would close down at 3, 4 5 o'clock, with the occasional (night) class here and there. If you were to come here at 5, you'd see the whole day begin again."

Such Auraria landmarks as Denver's oldest church (later a synagogue and now an art gallery), its first Hispanic church, the childhood home of a Zionist pioneer and a red-brick brewery would have a lot of trouble fitting into the grid, and Trimble is glad they didn't have to.

No argument from AHEC's Interim Executive Vice President for Administration Barb Weiske, who might have been called Tivoli's house mother.

Former brewery, civic center and shopping mall, the Tivoli is actually 16 buildings with 101 floor elevations. Now that the brick has been exposed, the history of the site is coming alive, said Weiske.

"The students demonstrated their stewardship by voting to increase their own student fees to rehabilitate their student union. That alone tells you something very special about this place," she said.

Metro State students do their part again
In April 2009, Metro State students voted 53 percent to 39 percent during the Student Government Assembly elections to levy a student fee upon themselves for the Student Success Building, the first building in the Metro State Neighborhood.