Let’s cut to the chase.
Which architects should be selected to design the two principal buildings in a planned $378 million justice center on West Colfax Avenue between Delaware and Fox streets?
It is an important decision because this project will redefine the Civic Center and southwest edge of downtown for decades to come and further shape how the city will be viewed by the rest of the world.
My picks would be Foster and Partners of London to design the $127 million courthouse and TEN Arquitectos of New York City to oversee the $165 million detention center.
These choices are based on many factors, including the record of accomplishments of the two firms and the first two of three public presentations last week by the nine nationally and internationally known finalists.
By the end of this week, a jury of government officials, neighborhood leaders and area architects and designers is set to decide its recommendations for the two architects. Those will be passed along to the mayor, who is expected to make a final decision by month’s end.
Before I explain my exact reasons for picking Foster and Partners and TEN Arquitectos, it is important to examine two critical considerations that must go into making this choice.
The first one comes down to this: Does Denver want a tradition-based, perhaps postmodern firm that will incorporate historical motifs in its design? Or does Denver want a firm that is more about the present than the past?
I vote for the latter, especially given the Denver Art Museum’s vanguard complex a few blocks away, with Gio Ponti’s still-controversial 1971 structure and Daniel Libeskind’s radical addition rising across 13th Avenue.
Because the two justice-center buildings will stand on an axis with the state Capitol and the City and County Building – both neo-classical landmarks – arguments for the former will be inevitable.
But it is possible to look forward architecturally and still be sensitive to history, as Foster and Partners proved in Nîmes, France. In what became a signature project, the firm designed a steel-and-glass médiathèque and art gallery opposite the Maison Carrée, a Roman temple.
Rather than clash with or detract from the classical lines of the historic edifice, Foster’s contemporary building gives the temple an exciting backdrop, reinvigorating the old architecture and sparking new appreciation of it.
The second key consideration is the need to select two architectural firms that have similar philosophies and could work well together and produce buildings with a degree of resonance.
Because of this factor, I was forced to decide against Richard Meier, a Pritzker Architecture Prize winner who has designed some of the most graceful, uplifting courthouses in the United States.
More than any of the other courthouse finalists, his designs have a set, identifiable look, with their high-modernist style and sleek, white walls. It is almost impossible to imagine one of his buildings blending well with the rest of the complex.
With those considerations in mind, I began my decision-making with the jail, because the pick for that building seemed the most clear-cut.
Enrique Norten, the Mexican-born founder of Ten Aquitectos, is rising fast in the architectural world and deservedly so. He must be seen as a potential candidate for the prestigious Pritzker Prize once his portfolio of projects grows.
As a finalist for the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver’s planned building, he impressed many with his practical yet artful approaches to design challenges and his understanding and appreciation of Denver and the West.
With an array of projects in Mexico City under his belt, he has shown that he can deal with the many challenges of a historic, urban setting like this one. And he has worked previously on less-than-sexy projects such as Mexico City’s Televisa Mixed-Use Building.
In short, he can design a jail that doesn’t look like a jail. And to make sure it functions well, he has teamed with RNL of Denver and Durrant, a Denver architectural and engineering firm that worked on the Maricopa County Downtown Jail in Phoenix.
After deciding on Norten, the question became: Which of the five courthouse finalists was not only suited to that project but would be compatible with Norten and his firm?
I chose Foster and Partners, headed by Norman Foster, another Pritzker Prize winner. It has teamed with AR7 HooverDesmondArchitects of Denver, HDR of Denver and the Denver-based National Center for State Courts.
What is so appealing about this big, international firm is that it does not have a fixed look to its projects. It responds to the context and challenges of each project and devises amazingly innovative and unexpected designs.
At the same time, it pushes the bounds of technology and looks to the future. Like Norten’s firm, it is creating some of the most energy-efficient, ecologically sensitive buidings in the world.
By picking Foster and Partners and TEN Arquitectos, Denver would be hiring two of the world’s most exciting architectural firms. They can be counted on to design a pair of technologically advanced, historically sensitive and highly workable buildings.
And that’s what a fast-improving city eager to raise its worldwide profile needs.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
The final four
Four architectural firms that
are finalists for the design of
Denver’s planned detention
center will make presentations
this evening. They are:
Hartman-Cox Architects,
Washington, D.C.; HOK, St. Louis;
TEN Arquitectos, New York
City; Valerio Dewalt Train Associates,
Chicago
Public presentations
Ballroom 8, Colorado Convention
Center, 14th and Stout
streets; 6 tonight; free;
720-865-2664 or visit
denvergov.org/justice_center.
