CREJ - Building Dialogue - March 2015
There once was a void on Broadway.tory Colorado Center, a dull grey wall fronted Denver’s main north-south street.ings in the city: The ART, a hotel, a nine-story, $50 million project that is the first new In the midst of Denver’s cultural epicenter, between the Denver Art Museum and HisNo longer. The wall is now out of view, tucked neatly behind one of the most dazzling new lodge hotel on Broadway in generations. “The black hole was right here,” noted Matt Bosquez, director of development project management for Corporex Colorado. “We have truly maxed it out and brought as much to it as possible.” Corporex developed the property with George Thorn, who partnered with the company to build the Museum Residences. Opening in May, the 165-room hotel’s enviable location extends beyond its property lines. The developers worked with the city and its neighbors on easements that allow the building to slant out over the sidewalk and adjacent parcels. “It’s eight feet at its furthest point out (as measured on the fourth floor),” said Bosquez.” The ART is tightly integrated into the cultural complex in terms of its architecture and materials. “We’re trying to mimic that and complement it,” said Bosquez, pointing to the angular architecture of Daniel Libeskind’s design at the DAM expansion. “We have architects who were working with Libeskind, so it’s in their blood.” Guadalupe Cantu of Davis Partnership Architects is one of those architects. He worked with Studio Daniel Libeskind on the museum expansion a decade ago before joining Davis. Cantu said both firms “work very similarly,” but the differences between the museum and the hotel are striking. “With the ART hotel, you have a complete 180-degree turn on how you perceive and visualize art,” he explained. At the museum, “the art is in a contained state without much natural light. In the hotel, we do nothing but invite natural light in.” “It needed to complement everything Studio Libeskind had done but not be a copy,” added Joe Lear, associate principal at Davis, who worked with Cantu on The ART. “We wanted it to be part of the family.” The glass at the base of the building serves as connective tissue to the museum, with limestone that is the same as that on the History Colorado Center across the street, and the height and scale, as well as the window portals, relate to the Denver Art Museum’s tiled tower by Gio Ponti. Another common thread: the shapes that appear and reappear throughout the hotel, inside and out. “This whole building has really cool geometry,” said Bosquez. “Our site is a triangle, our restaurant is a cube, and our ceilings are polygons. Everything is big, but we’re on a small space.” Checking in Guests will drive up to the valet station just north of 12th Avenue and Broadway. Elevators will whisk them from the first-level welcome area to the check-in area on the fourth floor. The remainder of the first level will be office and retail space, and the second and third floors are set as offices as well. The fourth-floor lobby will be centered on “one large gallery area” that opens up to an outdoor patio above Broadway via folding glass NanaWalls, said Bosquez. “You come up the elevator and you’re almost outside again.” The lobby “will be flooded with natural light,” he added. “The ceilings will be incredible, with stretched fabric, a reflective surface, and recessed lighting.” To the north will be the ballroom and meeting rooms – about 4,000 square feet in all. To the south: the restaurant and bar. The latter connects to the outdoor patio, just the venue for a cocktail. Bosquez called the dining room “a pretty special space” with a huge skylight, a wine wall and a stunning view of Broadway. The best seat in the house will be on the hotel’s southeast corner – the prow that juts out over the sidewalk. “This is something that has not been created in Denver yet,” touted Bosquez. “It’s our signature table.” The views from the guest rooms on the fifth through ninth floors soar even more, looking out over the art museum and downtown and extending to the Rockies on the horizon. “There’s a lot of dynamic views that were specific to this site,” said Lear, noting that the architecture aims to complement the sights that can be seen from the enviable location. “The design is absolutely connected to the outside everywhere.” Bosquez said that the rooms’ views are complemented by the interior design. “We’ve got casework that is different than a typical hotel,” he noted. “Ours is integrated into the architecture of the room. It’s really subtle, but it’s very hard to get accomplished.” Other details include pen lights above the exterior doors and quartz countertops, tiled niches and custom shelving in the bathrooms. Also of note are the suites, one on each floor, featuring balconies above Broadway. Then there’s the hotel’s namesake. “Our art collection will be at the same level as the Denver Art Museum,” said Bosquez. “Every floor will have a signature piece of art, whether it’s commissioned or from our art collection.” The rooms on each floor will feature prints from the same artist. Former DAM curator Dianne Vanderlip is handling the hotel’s collection. A flagship project The ART is a huge project for the city, the street and the Cultural Center Complex, not to mention the firms behind the hotel. “This is one of our absolutely marquee projects for our company,” said Bosquez. “We have gone to great extents to pick everything out. Everybody has put their heart and soul into it.” The Cincinnati-based firm has had a Colorado presence since 2000. Bosquez has been with the company since 2012 and is currently also working on the Hyatt hotel and conference center in Aurora and a number of office projects in the metro area. Davis Partnership Architects’ roots in Denver date back to 1892, and its fingerprints are all over the city. “For Davis Partnership, it’s an important building,” said Lear. “It’s the last phase of a project we’ve been working on for 15 years.” But it all comes back to filling that black hole with a building that’s very much necessary, he added. “It’s also an important project for Broadway, making the urban fabric complete.” PROJECT TEAM DEVELOPER: Corporex Colordo GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Haselden ARCHITECT/LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Davis Partnership STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Martino & Luth