The Denver Art Museum formally launched construction two years ago of its soon-to-be completed addition, and, Monday afternoon, it was the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver’s turn.
With pink hard hats and the requisite, long-handled shovels, director/curator Cydney Payton and 10 other dignitaries ceremoniously broke ground for a $15 million permanent home on the northwest corner of 15th and Delgany streets.
More than 250 people attended the half-hour event under a cloudless blue sky, including U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette and Mark Udall of Colorado, Mayor John Hickenlooper and London architect David Adjaye, who oversaw the museum’s design.
“Everyone is looking forward not only to seeing the building begin to take shape,” Payton said, “but, obviously, we’ve been having so many … conversations about what this building is going to do, so I think there is excitement about watching that story unfold.”
M.A. Mortenson Co. is expected to begin construction in two weeks, and work is expected to last about 10 months. The completed museum could open as early as next spring.
“I’m relieved,” said Adjaye. “Whenever you win a competition, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to build a project. So it’s always great when you know that the diggers are coming.”
In contrast to the Denver Art Museum’s jutting, flamboyant expansion, Adjaye’s unassuming, gray-glass building puts the emphasis on dramatic, light-infused interior spaces.
The 26,000-square-foot structure – Adjaye’s first project in the United States to be realized – will have three floors, including one below ground, and house five galleries, each geared to a specific type of art.
Museum officials announced Monday that it is expected to qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for sustainability – the first such institution of its kind in the country to do so.
The museum has raised $9.5 million, 63 percent of the $15 million cost of the building, including a $500,000 contribution from an anonymous donor confirmed Monday morning. It has also raised part of an additional $3 million sought for an accompanying endowment fund.
“We’re going into the public phase of the campaign now,” Payton said. “We’ve been largely fundraising within the museum’s immediate donor pool. I think we’re in a wonderful position.”
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
