Adjaye Associates’ first public commission in the
US, the practice won the competition to create a new building for the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver. The new facility is an environmentally sustainable
building, on track to gain the distinction of Gold Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED). It will be the nation’s first LEED certified contemporary art museum, at the forefront of the sustainability movement.
Located on a prominent site, the new museum sits
at the corner of a mixed-use block on 15th and Delany Street; 15th Street is an important route to and from downtown Denver and Delany serves the immediate
area with a metro station and close proximity to the South Platte River. In order to establish a visual relationship with the traffic moving in and out of
the downtown area, the north-east façade is set at a slight angle to 15th Street. The south-eastern corner of the building has been pulled forward so that it’s visible from the metro station on Delany Street. In keeping with the scale of the neighbouring buildings, the main volume of the new building has a height of four generous stories.
With 20,000 square feet of exhibition, education
and lecture spaces, bookshop and a roof garden for outdoor art, the new gallery is like a European ‘kunsthalle’, presenting new work from around the world. It is the intention that architecture ‘supports rather than defines the museum’s mission’.
In order to accommodate a wide range of art works, the exhibition spaces are differentiated by area and height. The most significant sources of natural light are the T-shaped roof light and two large windows
overlooking the main entrance at the south-east corner of the site. The windows and the roof light are positioned to derive maximum benefit from direct sunlight throughout the year. The terrace of the member’s room and the end wall of the education space enjoy an elevated view of downtown Denver.