Please note: This pages information is out of date
Gothic Campus
About Gothic
Gothic is RMBL’s main campus, located at 8000 County Road 317, Crested Butte, CO 81224. It houses most of RMBL’s research sites and facilities, including the Barclay Building (Administration Office), the Gothic Research Center (GRC) with its laboratory spaces, the Visitor Center, the Wesse Youth Programs Building, the Natural History Building with its herbarium collection, and the billy barr community center (BBCC) with its dining hall and community kitchen. See the information below to learn more about Gothic’s facilities. A map of the Gothic campus is available for reference. During the summer, most researchers and staff are based at Gothic, and meals are served in the BBCC/Dining Hall.
Lab and Research Facilities
Lab Space
RMBL has bench space in multi-use rooms and private lab-spaces available for rent by the day or by the year. We have small research rooms, as well as bench space in a wet lab with chemical fume hoods and deionized water, a microscope/balance room, and a sample processing room. Lab space requests must be received by April 1 in order to be prioritized. For more information contact the Science Director.
Research Equipment
RMBL maintains some general use equipment, including microscopes, computers, balances, cameras, drying ovens, mapping equipment, ultra-cold freezer, standard refrigerator and freezer, and biosafety cabinet. We also have a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, which is available for use on a fee/sample basis if you have previously been trained on this equipment and/or have taken the GC-MS class at RMBL. Contact the Science Director for more details.
Natural History Collections
RMBL houses and curates three main natural history collections in Gothic: The RMBL Herbarium, The RMBL Mammal Collection, and The RMBL Insect Collection. These collections are maintained for research, education, and public outreach and all are accessible online via searchable Symbiota portals. More information can be found by visiting our Natural History Collections page.
Overnight Accommodations
At RMBL, we offer a variety of housing options, including updated multi-room family cabins, dorm-style housing, tents, and two camping spots. Many of our overnight accommodations are rustic, lacking running water or indoor plumbing, and shared rooms are common to accommodate as many researchers as possible during the busy summer months. Residents primarily use the numerous outhouses on campus and a centrally located shared shower house. We strive to match each guest with a cabin that fits their individual needs and to honor roommate requests. Please visit our Housing Request page for more information about our cabins, request system, and prioritization process for on-site housing. Please refer to the Gothic Housing website page for more information about accommodation at this location. If you have questions about the differences between living in Gothic (main campus) and at RMBL 365, please visit the Housing: Gothic + RMBL 365 page.
Requesting Housing at Gothic
Requests for Gothic housing are submitted as part of the standard housing request process in the RMBL Community Portal. If you have no preference for housing or would like to indicate that you are open to either Gothic or RMBL 365 accommodations, you can select (COMING SOON) or note this option in the RMBL portal when submitting your housing request.
How Do We Decide Who Lives in Gothic?
Each year we set aside 40 housing spots for people participating in our education program. This includes students doing undergraduate research and teachers and scientists who have received funding to train with senior scientists. The housing of research teams flows from the lead scientist after they submit or renew a research plan. Once that is approved, we house the research team onsite if requested. We also have visiting scientists, alumni, and general visitors that we accommodate as we can.
Can you have a long-term housing assignment?
Under the appropriate circumstances, we allow long-term scientists and residents to stay in the same cabin every year. One way this happens is de facto; if a scientist has an approved research plan, has been consistently using a cabin every year, and will be out for at least 8 weeks, chances are they will get that cabin again. Because space is limited, we are careful to avoid using large cabins capable of housing a family for a single person. But as long as space is being used appropriately, we like to leave people in the same place. In the absence of a written agreement, however, there is no guarantee of a particular housing situation, regardless of how long someone has been in a cabin. Housing assignments are ultimately a judgment call by staff and require consideration of a wide range of factors.
Contact Brett Biebuyck, the Director of Administration (brett@rmbl.org) for information on long-term housing agreements.
How do we handle mid-summer housing requests?
RMBL operates under a permit issued by Gunnison County. That permit grants us the right to house 180 people on site at one time. We can’t house more, even if we have an open bed somewhere. If you have a visitor who wants to stay on-site, please submit an Alumni/Guest Registration Form in advance. Keep in mind that they or you will be charged for their stay. If we discover unregistered visitors, you can be fined and/or asked to leave. Go to www.rmbl.org/guests for more information and to fill out the alumni/guest application form.
Dining Hall
In 2018, the construction of a modern Dining Hall and meeting space was completed and named after our long-time supporter, staff member, cricket coach, and friend, billy barr. The billy barr community center (bbcc) features a commercial kitchen, buffet, board room, communal kitchen, and a large dining/seminar space. The bbcc is the heart of our campus and the best place to grab a bite to eat, work, learn, and socialize at RMBL.
Meeting Spaces
The billy barr community center features a main lecture hall that can accommodate 150 lecture-style and 128 for meals. It includes a large retractable screen, projector, and connected PA system for live and distance presentations. A small conference/board room in the bbcc seats 18 comfortably around a large table. This room is equipped with a wall-mounted television for presentations and hybrid virtual conferencing. The community center also offers three outdoor tents for group use and breakout sessions.
Across campus, the Barclay Classroom Building has two classrooms with large monitors for presentations and hybrid meetings, accommodating 18 to 25 people, depending on the table and chair set up.
Additional spaces around Gothic that can be used for overflow and small group meetings include Ruby Lounge, The Visitor Center, Town Hall, the Herbarium, the Library, various offices and empty cabins.
Historic Designations
One of the defining characteristics of RMBL is its funky buildings. We have 3 buildings from the founding of Gothic in 1880, two buildings from an attempt to revive mining in 1914, and numerous buildings constructed after the founding of RMBL in 1928. Seven buildings have historic designation by the county of Gunnison: Town Hall (1880, renovated 2003), Swallows Nest (1880, renovated 2004), Mammal Lab (1914, renovated 2004), Ore House (1914, renovated 2005), Barclay (1935, renovated 2009), Richards (1930, renovated 2011), and McLeod (1936, renovated 2013). RMBL is committed to maintaining representative structures from each of the various eras and styles.
RMBL 365 Building
About RMBL 365
RMBL 365 is a newly acquired lodging space designed to support year-round programming, collaboration, and community engagement while advancing RMBL’s scientific mission. Located in the town of Crested Butte at 615 Teocalli Avenue, Crested Butte, CO 81224 (~25–30 minutes from Gothic main Campus). RMBL 365 offers a more comfortable, less rustic housing option than our Gothic facilities, making it well suited for researchers with families and guests seeking additional amenities. RMBL 365 is set up hostel-style with many rooms having a shared kitchen, bathroom, and living space.
Overnight Accommodations
Located in the town of Crested Butte, RMBL 365 offers a more comfortable, less rustic housing option than Gothic, making it well suited for researchers with families and guests seeking additional amenities. Housing is set up hostel-style, with many rooms sharing a kitchen, bathroom, and living space. Please refer to the RMBL 365 Housing website page for more information about accommodation at this location. If you have questions about the differences between living in Gothic (main campus) and at RMBL 365, please visit the Housing: Gothic + RMBL 365 page.
Requesting Housing at RMBL 365
Requests for RMBL 365 housing are submitted as part of the standard housing request process in the RMBL Community Portal. If you have no preference for housing or would like to indicate that you are open to either Gothic or RMBL 365 accommodations, you can select (COMING SOON) or note this option in the RMBL portal when submitting your housing request.