Recap: CATALYTIC DENVER – Civic Center Lecture

On Tuesday, March 13, 2018, we hosted our 2018 Lecture Series Kick-off event, CATALYTIC DENVER: Civic Center at The Sharp Auditorium in partnership with the Denver Art Museum.

Check out the lecture presentation.

Panel Speakers
Andrea Fulton, Deputy Director, Denver Art Museum
Larry Friedberg, FAIA, Colorado State Architect
Jon Buerge, Chief Development Officer, Urban Villages
John Desmond, Executive Vice President, Downtown Environment, Downtown Denver Partnership
Moderated by Ignacio Correa-Ortiz, AIA, AICP CUD, LEED AP, Senior Architect/Urban Designer, Regional Transportation District

Program Description
Within 5 years of the 2008 recession, Denver experienced one of the best economic recoveries in the U.S. Low foreclosure rates, the advent of the commuter rail connecting downtown to the airport and a significant in-flow of college‐educated workers to the Denver area have contributed to a prosperous growth of the region, and in particular Denver’s Lower Downtown area with over $1 Billion in new development.

At the other end of downtown, a new crop of projects signals the revitalization of Denver’s Civic Center; the Denver Art Museum has started the renovation of its North Building, also known as the Ponti building, for its designer, Italian modernist architect Gio Ponti. Prior to this renovation project, the civic‐minded additions to the Civic Center include the Denver Art Museum Hamilton Building designed by Daniel Libeskind (2006), the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center, housing the State’s Supreme Court, designed by Fentress Architects (2012) and RTD’s Civic Center Station, designed by Eastman Perkins and SEH (2017).

This session hoped to find answers to whether the investments in Denver’s Civic Center to‐date are a sign of a revitalization of the area, and how new development should contribute to the civic architecture of the city.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Dravitz Photography