DENVER - Photos of the new additions to Denver's emerging museum district

CPVLIVE · #1 Posted **Oct 24, 2011, 12:55 AM**

I wasn't quite sure where to post these and in the end just decided to create a new thread.

The Clyfford Still Museum - Designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture - Opening Nov. 2011.

The view from the alley separating The Still from the Hamilton building.

The Hamilton building from the alley.

The view to the north of the DAM North building.

The History Colorado Museum - Tryba Achitects - Opening early 2012

Dogpatch · #2 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 4:08 AM**

Great thread. Thanks for posting these, CPVLIVE.
I didn't think much of the new Colorado History Museum in the renderings, but it turned out to be beautiful! Very impressed.

pablosan · #3 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 4:23 PM**

I like the History Colorado.

Brainpathology · #4 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 4:27 PM**

Love the Still museum... if 14th street werea composition it would be a Schoenberg... the museums, civic buildings and private architecture really don't go together in any melodic sense.. but they sure do clash beautifully.

And as always.. your photos are brilliant.

bunt_q · #5 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 4:29 PM**

I don't want to be the sole naysayer, because I like everything going on in that area a lot. But I want to add, as nice as the History Colorado center is on Broadway, its treatment of Lincoln is terrible. I get there's probably little that could be done to avoid it, but that is a full block blank wall now, and Lincoln isn't exactly an unimportant street.

Great pictures too. That yellow-ish tinge, especially in the History Colorado photos toward the end. Was that filter work, or was the light really that yellow-orange? Neat. The History Colorado center is a fine example of Colotecture, as well it should be! The building actually looks like Colorado.

Brainpathology · #6 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 4:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bunt_q

I don't want to be the sole naysayer, because I like everything going on in that area a lot. But I want to add, as nice as the History Colorado center is on Broadway, its treatment of Lincoln is terrible. I get there's probably little that could be done to avoid it, but that is a full block blank wall now, and Lincoln isn't exactly an unimportant street.

Great pictures too. That yellow-ish tinge, especially in the History Colorado photos toward the end. Was that filter work, or was the light really that yellow-orange? Neat. The History Colorado center is a fine example of Colotecture, as well it should be! The building actually looks like Colorado.

You're right.. but in my head the standard for prison like blank walls facing the street is the hotel wall along Tremont or Court from 15th to 16th.. I was walking there the other night and was tempted to wish for a parking lot instead. Probably too bad.. it means that nothing Denver can come up with will not be an improvement.. .even the Four Seasons flipping off of the street doesn't come close to as bad.

wong21fr · #7 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 4:52 PM**

^At least the loading docks were placed within the parking garage; but, you're right, that section of Lincoln is now a block-long blank wall with a couple of parking garage entrances as the sole break-ups. Not that the other side of Lincoln is much better on that block.

bunt_q · #8 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 5:00 PM**

It might be worth a bit of study (or just research) when I have a spare moment to see what options we might have. It's hard to just blame the loss of alleys - even large buildings that have them don't use them - they're too small to accommodate the in/out traffic movements at those volumes. I wonder if our blocks are too small and/or improperly configured (narrow east-west, long north-south) to work well, while still allowing for vehicular access where it's needed (often on the north-south streets) without the blank walls.

I suppose there's also the question of "what's the alternative?". You don't need doors on every side. Retail on Lincoln, there? Probably not too viable. Better landscaping? Might be our best bet, but hardly ideal.

wong21fr · #9 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 5:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bunt_q

I suppose there's also the question of "what's the alternative?". You don't need doors on every side. Retail on Lincoln, there? Probably not too viable. Better landscaping? Might be our best bet, but hardly ideal.

But ground floor retail solves everything! Every project should have ground floor retail as it is essential to the urban fabric. And why are we catering to the automobile in these projects? There should be no effort or resources wasted on figuring out how to accommodate truck traffic; instead, the projects should envision having bicycles and rickshaws used in place of filthy trucks. Also, we should require all vehicles to travel in underground tunnels with the streets left to the cyclists and pedestrians.

bunt_q · #10 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 5:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wong21fr

the projects should envision having bicycles and rickshaws used in place of filthy trucks.

Well, that would provide employment.

BrennanW · #11 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 5:42 PM**

Over at the Denver Infill Blog, they have some great pics of the new History Colorado Museum including the interior (which looks awesome!)

Part 1
http://denverinfill.com/blog/2011/09...er-part-1.html

Part 2
http://denverinfill.com/blog/2011/09...er-part-2.html

CPVLIVE · #12 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 6:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bunt_q

That yellow-ish tinge, especially in the History Colorado photos toward the end. Was that filter work, or was the light really that yellow-orange? Neat. The History Colorado center is a fine example of Colotecture, as well it should be! The building actually looks like Colorado.

No filter work bunt - just a fiery orange ball of sun at 5:00 pm-ish - very low and intense. Although I probably inadvertantly added to the effect as I didn't change my white balance setting from the last photos I took of the Still which were in the shade. Turned out very yellowish anyhow.

pablosan · #13 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 7:38 PM**

Now, if we could get a few more museums in the neighborhood.

Cirrus · #14 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 9:22 PM**

The solution isn't hard. Large museums should have "front doors" on both sides of the building. I can give you a dozen examples when I'm not sitting in an alley waiting for my wife to finish shopping.

bunt_q · #15 Posted **Oct 25, 2011, 10:16 PM**

This one still has two doors - one on Broadway and one on 12th. It's the third street frontage that is less-than-great.

Maybe 12th should have been sacrificed, but it's such a short block east-to-west, they probably wouldn't have wanted the loading from there anyways.

BG918 · #16 Posted **Oct 26, 2011, 1:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pablosan

Now, if we could get a few more museums in the neighborhood.

What other types of museums would you propose? The science and contemporary art museums already have nice facilities in other parts of town.

bunt_q · #17 Posted **Oct 26, 2011, 3:17 AM**

Besides, that area has enough museums. Any future museums MUST be spread around the metropolitan region in an equitable manner. Starting with Aurora. Specifically, the corner of Chambers and Alameda - the ideal location for a major cultural institution. It's sort of an affront to regionalism that the Museum of Nature and Science is expanding in place now - those storage facilities would've worked just as well in another community, where the (janitorial) employment would've been shared. These provocative actions by Denver are so last century.

Sorry...

glowrock · #18 Posted **Oct 26, 2011, 2:11 PM**

Groan...

Aaron (Glowrock)

pablosan · #19 Posted **Oct 26, 2011, 2:57 PM**

I would like to see smaller galleries for local and regional artists.

bunt_q · #20 Posted **Oct 26, 2011, 3:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pablosan

I would like to see smaller galleries for local and regional artists.

I don't claim to know the first thing about the art scene (I'll be honest, I go to First Friday for the people watching and food trucks), but isn't that what all those galleries on Santa Fe are?