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OMA takes exhibition design to new levels at the reopened Denver Art Museum

2021-10-26T17:06:00-04:00

As part of the newly reopened Denver Art Museum renovation project, OMA has transformed the design galleries of the iconic Martin Building in order to better display, exhibit, and communicate the museum’s robust holdings in architecture and design.

The remade space features two new galleries and an educational studio named for designer and art collector Ellen Bruss.

Photography by James Florio

OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu described the opportunity to work within Ponti’s seminal work as “an exciting exercise,” offering his opinion that “Much like his design philosophy, the role of design seems to grow and diversify exponentially. A direct consequence of design ubiquity is accessibility and literacy, and we wanted the galleries to react to these changes.”

Photography by James Florio

“The three spaces pose new ways of seeing as well as interacting with objects and materials,” he continued. “They present different spatial and programmatic identities but work collectively as a platform for s...

Check out the newest photos of the Denver Art Museum expansion ahead of its weekend reopening

2021-10-22T17:06:00-04:00

The wait is over at one of the most important synoptic collections in the western U.S. As part of a 50th-anniversary celebration of its iconic Gio Ponti building, the Denver Art Museum (DAM) will officially reopen on Sunday following a four-year $150 million facelift and campus expansion by Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects.

Kemper Courtyard at the Denver Art Museum. Photo by James Florio Photography, courtesy of the Denver Art Museum.

The expansion was necessary to unify the Golden Triangle campus. A new welcoming center is combined with the Hamilton Building designed by Daniel Libeskind to form a less “standoffish” offering for a visitorship that has nearly doubled in the past ten years.

Revitalized Gio Ponti tube entrance into the Martin Building. Photo by James Florio Photography, courtesy of the Denver Art Museum.

The upgrade plan has emphasized increased space for the public alongside a corrected program which had to be rearranged after the introduction of Libeskind’s bu...

In the spirit of Ponti

2016-12-30T00:18:00-05:00

DAM has spent considerable sums in the past decade on new buildings—practically rivaling what much larger museums in New York and San Francisco have expended for new construction and renovation projects in that same time period. The Hamilton Building, completed in 2006, cost $100 million. And just two years ago, DAM moved its administration offices into a new $12 million building on the campus.

Earlier this month, Josephine Minutillo reported on the plans by Denver Art Museum, for an $150 Million upgrade and addition to it's Gio Ponti building.