Rising from the foothills, a geometric sandstone building sits alone atop a mesa like a specter over Boulder. The edifice is difficult to capture in the mind’s eye. It seems to shape-shift as it’s viewed from different angles, and the number of floors is difficult to discern. A painting hung in the hallway of one of the towers reimagines the structure as one of MC Escher’s serpentine illusion paintings.
A high volume of emergency vehicles is expected Sunday at the National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesa Laboratory for a private memorial service for National Forest Service firefighter Benjamin Sapper.