By Karen Mitchell

Urban Cultural Development
If Denver is the Queen City, Daniel Libeskind is its courtier. The celebrated architect has teamed with the Davis Partnership, a Denver-based architectural firm, to invigorate the city’s cultural and neighborhood verve by way of a titanium and glass expansion/addition to the Denver Art Museum (DAM), and a complex of retail and residential components that will enrich the adjacent Golden Triangle neighborhood. The project, south of downtown Denver, was initiated in 1999 by a $62.5 million public bond.

The new Frederic C. Hamilton museum wing and surrounding complex, opening in the fall of 2006, will be the first completed Libeskind-designed project in the country, one he describes as "Nexus," weaving downtown elements together. The expansion houses five permanent and three traveling gallery areas and connects to the original, existing museum, designed by Italian architect Gio Ponti, via a footbridge.

Libeskind’s iconic museum addition will be marked by a 171-foot sculpted titanium prow, an urban gesture rising up like a symphony crescendo to greet the city before gently descending as a nod to an adjacent residential neighborhood.

"The amazing vitality and growth of Denver from its foundation to the present inspires the form of a new museum," Libeskind has said. "Coupled with the magnificent topography and its breathtaking views of the sky and the Rocky Mountains, the dialogue between the boldness of construction and the romanticism of the landscape creates a unique place in the world."

In addition to the museum expansion, the project calls for two Museum Residences wrapping the southern and western faces of the cultural center and the museum garage. Each residence will have ground-floor retail, five levels of condominiums (ranging from studios to two-bedroom units), and eight two-story penthouses. One retail space will become a permanent home for the Mizel Museum, with educational, learning, and creative exhibitions. The main body of the buildings will be composed of two types of glass, interfaced so as to loosely reference musical notes.

On the Broadway Street side of the complex, a 17-story residential tower and connected six-story hotel will also host retail components. The total number of new residences in the complex will be about 85, creating an exceptional neighborhood with retail and cultural elements.

"The whole complex will be an extension of the Golden Triangle neighborhood, a hip, fast-growing area whose residents want to live in and around good design and are conscious of what happens around them," says Libeskind Studio architect Arne Emerson. "The new residents won’t feel isolated."

Serendipitous Timing
The DAM expansion comes at a time when Denver is rife with development, in town and around its periphery, where new residential communities have sprung up at former industrial sites in the Platte River Valley and at the defunct Stapleton Airport site, as well as at the Lowry Air Force Base, which closed in 1993.

"Denver is dynamic, poised to become the next great creative city," says Maria Cole, an architect with Davis Partnership and a native who is currently collaborating on the project with Libeskind. "It’s very livable; there’s a certain readiness here, making it a draw for potential residents and businesses." The museum project is the result of a successful alliance among the architects, the city of Denver, and Mayor John Hickenlooper, DAM itself, and the project contractor, M.A. Mortensen, Cole says.

The way Libeskind designed and sculpted the Hamilton addition is further affirmation of a desire to integrate it into Denver’s urban fabric. "There’s no obvious backside, or service side, to the Hamilton addition," Cole explains. "That will allow the city and neighborhood to evolve and change around the entire structure over a period of time."

Let There Be Light
The project, which will place Denver on the global map, is igniting local excitement, Emerson says. "Many Denver residents attended public forums at which Daniel spoke about the design, and the immediate neighborhood had a voice in helping to shape the context of the project."

"People from Colorado and beyond are starting to follow the museum’s construction in the news and are talking about it," he adds. "They won’t really understand it until the whole complex opens. It’s unique to have one spot in a city where great architecture, art, culture, and living converge. This is one of the most important urban cultural developments currently under construction in the U.S., and Daniel immediately connected with the people and the western spirit of Denver."

"The Residences are among the first all-glass buildings in Denver," Emerson says. "Their glass skins and commanding views—with tons of natural light—reflect Daniel’s feelings about the West. He always talks about its spirit, and these reflect that idea of bringing the light in."