Translating The Building

August 4th - 25th, 2019.

McNichols Building, 144 W Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80202.
* This event was supported by the Denver Arts & Venues Cultural Partner Program.

Participating architects include: Rick Sommerfeld and the students of the Colorado Building Workshop, Jaime Rivera, Jimenez Lai, Tony Gonzalez, Germane Barnes, Jordan Gravely, BairBalliet (Kelly Bair / Kristy Balliet), and Kevin Hirth.

Panel Discussion: Sunday, August 4, 3 - 4.30. 

Speakers include: Cortney Lane Stell (Black Cube Nomadic Museum), Donald Burnes (The Burnes Center on Poverty and Homelessness) and Jill Lecantore (WalkDenver).

Denver is currently experiencing a massive shift in its urban design and cultural paradigm. While some of the changes have been rewarding to the community, others have left many unsettled from the vertigo of rapid change. In the midst of a maelstrom of influences -the growth of the Denver International Airport, the

expansion of the light rail system, the passing of Amendment 64, the growth of Denver’s tech industry, the influx of people from other cities and states, and more- the architecture and design of the city has emerged as a topic of vital importance for this community.

It is the goal of this exhibition to provide a context for a public conversation about the design of the city of Denver, its current trends, and its latent potentials. This conversation is ideally suited to the McNichols Building -the city’s former library- situated in the Civic Center Park between Denver’s city council building and the state capital. This building is also located near the 16th street mall -a center for economic activity- and the city’s Cultural Complex, which is home to the Denver Public Library (a Michael Graves Building) and the Denver Art Museum (a Daniel Liebskind building and a Gio Ponti building). A number of judicial buildings are also only a short walk away, as well as some of the city’s major streets. The confluence of Denver’s culture, political organization, and economic reality will be confronted right outside this building’s front doors. Yet the conversation doesn’t end there.

This exhibition and the conversation it encourages need not be conceived as being contained within one room. This conversation extends throughout the city. It is our aim to present to you a space in which to build a dream with your neighbors and to envision the Utopia you’d like to work towards. Build your dream, then take it with you to grow in your community.