Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects give Gio Ponti’s Denver Artwork Museum a considerate and compelling campus-wide transformation
Denver, Colorado, USA
“To create the new Sie Welcome Center in Denver’s architecturally rich Golden Triangle Creative District, it was critical for us to design a structure that was in dialogue with the vibrant visual language of Ponti and Studio Libeskind’s designs, while also providing a connection to the museum,” says Jorge Silvetti, principal at Machado Silvetti.
Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects, together with interior architects OMA, IKD, and Esrawe + Cadena, have completed the $150 million revitalization of the new
expanded and reimagined campus for The Denver Art Museum (DAM), unveiling all eight levels of its iconic Gio Ponti-designed Lanny and Sharon Martin Building (formerly referred to as the North Building), and the new Anna and John J. Sie Welcome Center.
The renovation of the Denver Art Museum has recently been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The reopening coincides with the Martin Building’s 50th anniversary.
A key component of the revitalization—timed to honor the 50th anniversary of the North Building—is the functional and iconic alignment of this building with its monumental neighbors: the titanium-clad, Libeskind-designed Hamilton Building; the Denver Central Library designed by Michael Graves; and the Clyfford Still Museum designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture.
Designed in 1965, the Denver Art Museum is Gio Ponti’s only completed building in North America.
The seven-story castle-like tower eschewed traditional museum archetypes at the time, sporting such design flourishes as unexpected window openings, a rooftop terrace with Rocky Mountain views, and 24 façades clad in more than one million reflective glass tiles.
All the new interventions, most notable is the Sie Welcome Center that adjoins the tower, newly renamed the Martin Building, references an elliptical auditorium that Ponti originally intended for the museum.
The work includes the addition of 33,328 square feet of new gallery and public space, fulfilling Ponti’s original vision for visitor access to stunning 7th-floor views; the addition of skylights that reveal new angles of the building’s design; and exterior improvements such as lighting and revitalization of the glass tiles on the building’s façade.
The renovation also includes updating environmental and other key systems with the latest technology.
The completed project received LEED Silver certification. Infrastructure and safety upgrades include a new elevator core, which adds two additional elevators and a transparent public staircase for improved visitor flow, along with updated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, new windows, new flooring, and new exterior wall insulation.
The 50,000-square-foot Sie Welcome Center’s second-story façade is comprised of a series of 25-feet tall and eight-feet wide (7.6 by 2.4 meters) curved structural glass panels with insulated glazing—an unprecedented feat of engineering and the first building to use curved panels in this way.
The welcome center serves as an entry point and a destination for visitors and seamlessly connects all aspects of the museum campus.
The team described the glazed facade as “an unprecedented feat of engineering and the first building to use curved glass panels in this way.”
“With its elliptical shape approachable from all angles, and transparent glass facade, the center is an inviting and glowing beacon to greet all visitors,” continues Silvetti.
OMA New York was responsible for exhibitions for the museum’s design gallery, and IKD of Boston and San Francisco designed a special exhibition on the building’s main floor.
A new learning and engagement center features “playful, creative, and inspired flexible spaces” created by Mexico City’s Esrawe + Caden.
Project: Denver Art Museum Renovation and Expansion
Architects: Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects
Exhibition Gallery Architects: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), IKD and Esrawe + Cadena
Original Architect: Gio Ponti (1965)
General Contractor: Saunders Construction, Inc.
Owner’s Representative: Grundy Construction Management & Consulting
Client: Denver Art Museum
Photographers: James Florio
