Last year, the City of Denver/Colorado Convention Center Hotel Authority sold the naming rights to the 5,000-seat theater (as well as other areas such as ballrooms, lobbies, etc.) inside the newly-expanded Colorado Convention Center. They sold the naming rights for the theater to Wells Fargo for several million dollars. Consequently, there are now two new signs proclaiming “Wells Fargo Theatre” on the west side of the convention center. Click on these to take a closer look:
I am not a fan of the selling of naming rights to civic facilities (“Invesco Field at Mile High” anyone?) but I suppose it’s an unfortunate reality in this not-enough-budget-to-do-the-job-right era we live in. But if we’re going to paste corporate names on the sides of our civic buildings, I hope that it can be done so tastefully.
In my opinion, the “Wells Fargo Theatre” signs are too large and detract from the sleek modern design of the convention center’s exterior. The signs introduce a warm yellow color to an exterior composed entirely of cool monochromatic whites, silvers and grays. The sign clinging to the roofline of the curved theater lobby disrupts the effect of the lobby’s gentle sweeping arc as a counterbalance to the sharp angularity of the soaring facade. I wonder if the architects at Fentress Bradburn who designed the convention center had any say in the size, color, and placement of these signs? If not, I wonder what they think of the impact of these signs on the appearance of the building they designed? I recognize that Wells Fargo deserves to receive name exposure commensurate with their multi-million dollar investment, but certainly these signs could have been more harmoniously integrated with the overall design aesthetic of the facility, while still providing the necessary visibility.
What’s also interesting is that there is not one single sign on the Speer Boulevard side of the convention center that tells you that this massive building is the Colorado Convention Center. There is a prominent sign announcing the name of the facility on the 14th Street side, but none at all (that I could find anyway) on the Speer side. So, with not one but two conspicuous “Wells Fargo Theatre” signs and no “Colorado Convention Center” signs visible on the Speer side, a passerby on Speer Boulevard who didn’t know any better could be easily led to believe that the entire 2.2 million SF facility is the Wells Fargo Theatre! I’m sure Wells Fargo wouldn’t mind that.
Perhaps I’m just being overly sensitive, or perhaps we let a handsome public building be tarnished. What do you think?
