The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that, if you’re an average American, 90 percent of your entire life is spent inside of buildings. I’m willing to bet that your first kiss was in or around a building. Your fondest memories and your darkest memories were probably formed inside a building. Did you notice?
With buildings always present like white noise, it’s easy to tune them out. This month is different though. This month is Colorado Architecture Month, and I want to try to persuade you to take a moment to look at a building — any old building — for just a few seconds longer than you normally would. Architecture is really, really cool, and I bet you never noticed.
Many consider Imhotep to be the world’s first architect because of the Pyramid of Djoser he designed in 2630-2611 BC. Since that time 4,600 years ago, mankind has been lifting heavy rocks, inventing new materials, studying the sun, and doing countless other ridiculous things with the sole intention of making buildings that protect us, serve us, and look good doing it.
Each building is part of an enduring and omnipresent human tradition. Every building we create, whether its a McDonald’s or the Burj Khalifa, reflects a small fraction of the spirit of mankind. If aliens came to Earth to learn about us, they would probably study our architecture closely since our patterns of living, our cultural values, and our technological skill are all recorded in our buildings.
It takes an astounding amount of time and energy to design and construct a building. The angular, titanium-covered Frederic C. Hamilton wing of the Denver Art Museum, for instance, required 15 different specialized consultant companies (led by architect Daniel Libeskind). Hundreds of people — stakeholders, designers, engineers, builders — had to work in harmony to arrive at the final product. That in itself is kind of beautiful.
You may think you will never be involved in the design of a building, but architects these days are engaging the public more and more with town hall meetings, user group meetings, and participatory planning efforts. It takes a lot of people to build a building, and after its built it will continue to affect a lot of people for a very long time.
You don’t have to search hard for interesting architecture in Colorado. Denver’s museums, breweries and government buildings provide enough material to keep even the nerdiest architecture fans busy. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of interesting new development in RiNo. The Source is a hipstery indoor market full of high quality art and food and it’s one of my favorite adaptive reuse projects.
The Clyfford Still Museum, located right behind the Denver Art Museum, is probably the most pleasant and intriguing building I’ve ever experienced. Be sure to visit it on a bright day to get the full effect of the daylit galleries.
The Colorado chapter of the American Institute of Architects () is hosting numerous events this month to help Coloradans connect more with the architecture around them. Even if you don’t commit to a guided architectural tour or take a week off of work to sketch building facades, I hope you will at least take an extra moment to reflect on the architecture around you.
Greg Morse graduated from the Environmental Design Program at CU-Boulder in 2012, and is now earning a Master’s of Architecture degree at the University of Illinois.
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