Radiant, formally known as the 21st and Welton Apartments, has made a lot of progress since our last visit back in February. The project has topped out and, in addition to the brick facade on the base, the glass curtain wall on the south side of the building is nearly complete.
Here are four images of Radiant looking north. The glass facade adds a modern touch, and nicely contrasts with the brick pattern along the podium, center, and north end of the building.
As with any urban project, the ground floor is the most important element, especially to the pedestrian. Radiant will feature 4,000 square feet of ground floor retail near the 22nd and Welton Street corner with the rest of the ground floor, towards 21st Street, purposed for the leasing office, lobby, and general building services. With setback entrances on both sides, and glass windows along the middle of the block, this project is a win at the street level.
With Radiant standing as the tallest building in Arapahoe Square at the moment, it makes for an interesting backdrop.
Last but not least, here is a straight on view of Radiant where you can see the facade from the ground floor to the roof.
This project still has a while to go as completion is anticipated for June 2019.
This building is so ugly that it’s fascinating to look at.
So much brown. I mean, it’s not random lego blocks, so there’s that, but what is wrong with 21st century design that we can’t have attractive buildings?
This is the product of postmodernism.
While I concur with Bob above, my primary gripe is really just the lack of a residential or architectural “screen” in front of the parking podium. The street level retail details Ryan discusses are a lot more generous than what was initially discussed. Anybody have a guess at what kind of business would work in about 4K square feet?
What part of the Caribbean will this CRUISE SHIP be visiting? It is actually better than I expected but I agree that is seems that its so all over the place that it kind of makes it interesting. Time will tell I guess.
I’m happy with the additional density, but this thing is an architectural garbage barge.
Thank you for letting us know, Claudia. We were all waiting for your architectural opinions with bated breath.
lol, great reply!
It’s not actually a good reply, Dave. This site has a comment section that is often—and sometimes primarily—about people’s architectural opinions. Mocking someone for offering architectural opinions on a website about infill and urbanism is needlessly hostile, not clever or witty.
Don’t take it personally Claudia. Ryan is a troll. Look at his posts…always whining that people express their opinions. Weird. Probably a denver architect. lol
It didn’t used to be that way. People commented primarily to celebrate denser infill. For some reason there has been an influx in critical opinions, which frankly makes the experience of this blog more negative. I don’t really see the point.
This building is a great reminder that architectural appeal is not just about materials. If someone had said, “We’re going to build a high-rise, Type I structure, all brick and glass exterior, and ground-floor retail,” we would all be thrilled. But the disappointment is in the execution, specifically in the lack of ornamentation and break-up of shapes. Despite the high quality construction and materials, this ends up looking like one of the EIFS cruise ships. This makes plans like 18th & Market (if it remains the same) look all the more impressive.
Looks similar to the Acoma, Joule, etc. but uglier because of the brown/tan color palette. I like the glass though.
The tower portion is not so bad. It’s not awesome but it passes. It’s the parking podium that throws this building off. Block it out with your finger and you will see what I mean. The plaid pattern is too strong when set against the tower. I agree, the fleshy tan and the brown just don’t work. it needs a metal screen or something to soften the harshness.
This building is awesome. The color and glass mixture stands out nicely. Such a shame so many commenters have such narrow tunnel vision in taste. Its a great addition to this area downtown. Its not just more of the same, nor a One Lincoln Park copy cat. Modern doesn’t only mean bling and eccentric shells. Finer tastes look for simplicity that stands out and doesn’t say gaudy. Which, this building does exceptionally well.