Denver Art Museum Campus
- Award Year: 2022
- Award Category: Urban Design
- Award Designation: Merit Award
- Client: Denver Art Museum
- Location: 100 W 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204
The Denver Art Museum’s (DAM) transformation as a new resilient campus has established it as the hub of the city’s cultural complex and as the city’s key urban link between Denver’s Civic Center, downtown Denver, and the Golden Triangle neighborhood.
The redesigned DAM site welcomes all in a beautiful, cohesive campus connected by Acoma Plaza — the main entry and pedestrian route shared with Denver’s Central Library and cultural spine that connects to the city, adjacent neighborhoods, parking, and bike routes.
The exemplary site design showcases the campus’s existing architectural masterpieces — most notably the North Building by Gio Ponti, which is also rehabilitated with the addition of the spectacular Sie Welcome Center, redesigned Acoma Plaza, and new gardens and outdoor terraces.
Outdoor spaces, including water quality gardens flanking DAM’s main entry, are an integrated system that treats on-site stormwater by filtering roof and site drainage through plantings, porous paving, infiltration basins, and below-grade reservoirs before drainage enters the city system.
The campus is reactivated by the Elliptical Terrace and Kemper Courtyard that re-establish Gio Ponti’s historic portal, open the museum site to Denver’s Civic Center, and create vibrant, sustainable outdoor spaces for the museum’s robust children’s programs and community events.
Kemper and Elliptical courtyards with a ‘maze,’ accessible terraces, flexible areas, and secure boundary provide much-needed program space for DAM’s children’s programs that reach more than 500 students a day from across the region during the school year.
Kemper Courtyard, inspired by Gio Ponti‘s patterns and materials, is transformed for evening events where the plaza can become a ‘stage,’ full of plantings, architectural lighting, custom benches, and art installations.
The design of Kemper Courtyard and Elliptical Terrace complete the campus design, inspired by Ponti’s unrealized vision for elliptical auditorium. Ponti’s patterns and textures inspire the ‘maze’ paving in Kemper Courtyard.
Gio Ponti’s masterful North Building is rehabilitated, including the restoration of the historic Portal, now accessed by a sculptural bridge. The Elliptical Courtyard and elliptical design of the new courtyard harken Ponti’s unrealized idea for an auditorium.
Campus sustainability practices include its integrated stormwater system, custom water quality gardens, architectural LED lighting, hardy plantings, mature tree protection, new trees to improve the city’s urban tree canopy, and restoration of historic features.
The Prow is a celebration of sustainability, historic preservation, and beauty. Designed as an intimate plaza built of porous paving, custom seating, LED lighting, and hardy resilient plantings, it is nestled into the newly restored original concrete walls.
Details of the water quality garden with custom basins to clean roof drainage and site runoff. Basins are flanked by plantings of hardy ornamentals that also create a garden setting for the Ponti Restaurant and main entrance.
DAM’s new Sie Welcome Center and entrance from the redesigned Acoma Plaza connect museum visitors with the city’s cultural and governmental core.
Harkening to Ponti’s unrealized vision for an auditorium, the Elliptical Terrace is for everyday and large events that spill over into Acoma Plaza. Site walls are a custom-designed exposed concrete aggregate finish, ground for a smooth finish.
A cohesive palette of materials unites the campus with pavers in neutral tones in all outdoor spaces and custom benches, each designed to support the program and use of each outdoor space.
The DAM site redesign weaves together historic preservation and sustainability with exemplary urban design to create a spectacularly beautiful and cohesive campus that is resilient and welcoming to all — museum visitor and the public alike.