The Clyfford Still Museum and the History Colorado Center are beginning to take form and look more complete.
Since my last update on the museums, the Clyfford Still has been making quick progress and the outer walls are almost complete.
As you can see in this next photo, the colors and texture of the Clyfford Still somewhat blend with the Denver Art Museum. There isn’t much contrast between the two.
A couple blocks up over at the History Colorado Center, the exterior is starting to look complete. It looks like all the glass has been put in and all there is left on the exterior is the roof.
The parking structure is almost complete behind the museum as you can see on the far right of this picture.
There are a lot of projects going on in and around Downtown Denver. Don’t forget to stop by and even take a walking tour of the largest project going on right now, Denver Union Station! Next up, we will be taking a look at 1099 Osage and see how far it has been coming along.
I know many people will probably dismiss the Clyfford Still Museum as ugly or “brutalist” — a term that was thrown around a lot on here when the renderings were first released — but I totally disagree.
Clyfford Still’s paintings are tremendously somber and meditative, and what I really like about this building is that it provides an almost temple-like way of experiencing his work. It reminds me of Tadao Ando’s Church of Light in Osaka. Despite the heavy use of concrete, the building feels very personal and human. Compared to mid-century brutalist monstrosities like the Boston’s City Hall, the Still Museum has a much more human scale, embracing the street while keeping the museum as a refuge from the city outside.
It’s worth looking at the Clyfford Still Museum website to watch the great video walkthrough of the final design.
My concern is that the grooved concrete isn’t having quite the effect that the architect thought is would. It just kind of looks like…grooved concrete, like an interstate paving job. Not horrible though, way better than stucco or some bad 70’s rock treatment.
Ryan – Thank you for all of your photo updates. The Still Museum site will probably change a lot in the next 6 months since they announced an 11/18/11 opening date.
Once these projects are complete, we need to rename this area “The Grey District” for it’s distinct lack of color. The old art museum – grey, the new art museum – grey, the art museum residences – mostly grey, the new Clifford Still museum – grey, the new history museum – yep grey. Thank goodness for the library!