Comments on: 1800 Larimer Lands Xcel Energy, Officially Breaks Ground

By: greenboy

greenboy — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:26:00 +0000

Oh, I forgot to add; RNL should be commended for the LEED Platinum. Not an easy thing to get on an office building.

By: gash22

gash22 — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Davis does great work. I have not seen a project of thiers that I do not like. I got to see them work up close on a project outside of Denver, and they really do put a lot of thought into thier work.

Back to the discussion, I thought the green roof was on…you know the roof. Turns out it is a terrace that sits above the first floor, so basicaly a chunk of the project is 1 maybe 2 stories…

Continuing the discussion, if you look at the video presentation on the project website there is a rendering that in my armchiar oppinion makes the building look a lot better – more of a blue/grey color than a brown/grey color. So I will reserve judgement until the project is done.

By: greenboy

greenboy — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:44:00 +0000

I don't think you guys understand this rendering.It shows what the building would look like after a tornado hit it and several of the windows had to be boarded up. Hey, beyonddc I like you. I am not an armchair architect, I am an Architect. And I am losing respect for RNL. Davis Partnership can show you how to design an attractive box. RNL did a good job on the Spire, but a couple of their latest just BITE!!

By: BeyondDC

BeyondDC — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:00:00 +0000

John, there is more to architecture - way more - than the basic geometric shape of a building. For a much more attractive mid-rise building, look no further than three blog posts above this one. Even if you were to flatten the roof on that building it would still be far more attractive. The architects of the 15th and Stout building took care to make sure it has attractive proportions and human-scale details, and the result is a million times better.

Ultimately I don't care that it's a box and I don't care that it has a flat roof. Virtually every historic building downtown is essentially a box with a flat roof, but something makes the cleaned-up Fontius building (which I said is "fantastic" in the thread below this one) different from this building.

I care that large brutalist glass curtain walls are hostile to pedestrians because they don't provide human-scaled details, and that the designers of this building failed with every half-hearted attempt they made to mitigate that. The randomly festooned band-aides of colored panels that pass as decoration make the building look like it has to be patched endlessly to keep it from falling down, and I like my buildings to stand up. The patching is awkward because it's trying to pass off abstract randomness on a building that is otherwise extremely formal. And while the reflective blue of the patch glass looks like it will be OK, the majority of the facade appears to be an incredibly dreary gray, like many buildings from the 50s and 60s, and what's the point of using glass in the first place if the result is dreary anyway? Further, the downward-arrow-shaped slant at the crown is awkward because it makes the top of the building look heavier than the shaft, which is the opposite of what we expect. Lastly, half the base appears to be a blank concrete slab (left side in this image), awful for pedestrian vitality.

There's a perfectly fine filler office tower here somewhere. It's not about sitting on a square site, having a flat roof, or even spending tons of money on expensive materials. It's about designing buildings with humane and graceful details rather than ironic parodies that hulk clumsily and will go out of style in 5 minutes.

By: Johnnie

Johnnie — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:53:00 +0000

beyonddc what did you want them to do with this building? Seriously, think about it. Their budget gave them 22 stories and they wanted a green top. What, did you want them to build a pyramid or something? With a 22 storey limit its very practical to put emphasis on the glass work and considering that the roof has to be flat for a green top, I think the top is very agreeable. You're getting bent out of shape over a 22 floor building trying to be space conscious. Please, being the architectual critic/guru you are, give us a link of a 22 storey building that meets your standards. I'm dying to see it.

By: BeyondDC

BeyondDC — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:18:00 +0000

Uh, saying you like a building is every bit as much "armchair architecture" as saying you don't like it. Unless your position is that people who live in cities should not have opinions about the buildings in them (in which case why are you here in the first place?) then the position that people shouldn't comment is completely absurd, and overtly hypocritical.

I think this building sucks. Sucks sucks sucks. If you disagree with me then more power to you, but don't tell me your opinion is valid and mine is invalid as "armchair architecture". If yours is valid then so is mine, and if mine's not then neither is yours.

By: Johnnie

Johnnie — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:58:00 +0000

For people who are commenting on the shape of this building, you're completely missing the point. Thank God you aren't architectual engineers. The glass work is clearly the emphasis on this building and makes it very progressive. Not to mention this mixed in with all of our heinous brown buildings will give downtown Denver a very dynamic look. On rainy days and snowy days, 1401 Lawrence, 1800 Larimer and the buildings that compose the Union Station plan will give Denver a very interesting look and feel.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:14:00 +0000

How could you hate this building? I think it is quite cool and will look even better than the rendering when completed. It just takes some getting used to. Good job RNL Design!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:39:00 +0000

In defense of armchair architects: for every licensed professional who made it through architecture school and managed to land a job in their chosen profession, there are probably ten others who love architecture as an art, who perhaps thought seriously about getting an architecture degree, or who got one but couldn't manage to find a job in what is a fairly small profession, numbers-wise. I am one of those who seriously considered it, and was even accepted into three different programs, but who decided, based on the economy at the time, that I'd never land a job (cowardly, maybe, but that's how it was, and my parents were not wealthy-I had to support myself). So when a wonderful website like this comes along, we use it as a forum for discussion about the relative merits of the buildings getting constructed in our city. Yes, we're somewhat ignorant of architectural history and all of the latest trends, and we don't know how much architects have to compromise with their clients and communities, and we're judging unbuilt structures based on renderings rather than the built results (a bad idea-no building ever looks exactly like its rendering). And yes, Ken has said repeatedly that this isn't an architectural website per se, but is instead meant to chronicle the overall improvement in downtown's built environment, still, with all of these renderings being a part of the website, the temptation to make a comment is irresistible to a lot of people.
When this design was first unveiled I didn't like it. I still don't, but I'm willing to see it built and judge the actual building, not this rendering, especially since its devotion to being green is very laudable. And this building will do something positive: from the north it will block views of the Windsor, one of the ugliest things ever built in Downtown Denver.

By: Saint

Saint — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:32:00 +0000

Anon 9:41, he said "tetrisitude" not "testrisitude". You obviously didn't get the reference to Tetris, which is what this building evokes to most people. And I think it's fun just for that fact. Not to mention, the interior lobby renderings looked pretty sweet. And it's not a square top either. So kudos for that.

As for Joe's comment, I noticed the trailer and the portapotty at the Embassy Suites site at 14th and Stout too. Anyone know what that's about?