While MArch students at the University of Colorado, Denver, Patrick Beseda and Lacy Williams realized a design/build project for a micro-dwelling. FOUNDhouse inspired by the WikiHouse project, was an exploration of digital fabrication, the possibilities of DIY and the democratization of housing/shelter.

News
Back in the 1990s the Denver area was site of an extreme makeover (aka environmental remediation) for the 6,500 acre Rocky Flats DOE nuclear industrial site.

Archinect ex-Editor in Chief | Staff Editor John Jourden coined Bil(Denver)bao in response to the news that David Adjaye, Steven Holl, and Daniel Libeskind, all had active projects in the same city - Denver. Similarly in a post on how cities across America are gambling on architecture to revitalize aging downtowns, Orhan Ayyüce criticized "i hate the new 'ready made culture' trend. new museums=starbucks".

Richard Florida used occupational data from the labor market data and research firm EMSI to map America's Leading Design Cities. archanonymous was surprised "Denver! It certainly doesn't feel gangbusters here, but it is quite a bit more optimistic than other middle-of-the-country cities. Anyone else working here? The architecture community is very fragmented, which is why it probably doesn't feel as good as it is.”

In the same year (2014) Forbes placed Denver #7 on a "baffling" list of "Coolest Cities". Perhaps not so surprising given Denver was also in a Top Ten list by RMJM Hillier of America's Best Cities for Design, released in 2008.

Currently Denver is seeing an unparalleled building boom, one local, acclaimed architect Jeff Sheppard, penned an editorial laying out how developers are putting profit before vision and civic pride. More specifically he writes

"Denver's planning department, developers, investors, builders and architects must begin asking whether the economic success of repetitive, five-story wood apartment boxes is enough. Housing solutions that enhance our environment, strengthen our urban condition and bring a sense of permanence and longevity to our collective future must be seriously pursued before it's too late."
 

Firms/Work Updates
As of August 14th Hord Coplan Macht was seeking a senior associate level architect (15 years plus experience) to develop a housing studio in the Denver office of our firm.
 

School/Blog
In April 2015 CU - Denver’s CAP received a $98,000 grant from the Gates Family Foundation, to help revive/support the Colorado Center for Sustainable Urbanism. This meant hiring a new Director/Research Assistant Professor to run the Center, though as far as I can tell the hire has not yet been announced.

Yet back in 2007 alincolnlog dared to wonder, attend CU Denver? cpnorris sized up the school "The bad thing about CU Denver is that its not a progressive school at all and they are not making any effort to become better...They have some pretty good faculty but its hit or mis...is good enough" solidsnake a recent graduate of the school  agreed "with most of what has been said" but acknowledged "the program is turning around".

For the start of his two-year M.Arch II program from the University of Colorado at Denver, David (aka ^idhe^) started a blog, but only got two posts in. His first documented a move/roadtrip from LA to Denver.
 

Discussions/Threads
Responding to a question about good firms in Denver/Boulder, Luis Fraguada suggested "OZ, Arch11, ComArts, AR7, AMD, ARCHInc, many, many others . . ." were worth checking out. The OP thought "A7 Hoover Desmond looks really good...my type of firm".

In late 2008 ianchristopher who had been doing research "Looking for progressive design work" identified aleide architects, semple brown design, in situ design, anderson mason dale architects, rnl, roth + sheppard architects anda gensler – denver. crave who had "personally worked at semple brown” shared that it was a “super laid back office with an emphasis on good design".

During the Great Recession of 2008–09 renmonk believed "the Denver market is pretty saturate"d with architecture firms, so especially now that the economy is down the competition for work is intense...my firm is the only one I've heard of that hasn't laid anyone off (fingers crossed)." By 2011 while the market had in some ways improved trace™ still despaired "All other large projects died long ago and have never resurfaced...I hope that changes, but right now the only building is cheap rentals (more or less)."

However, g.thomas.z let i be known that as of Spring 2015 things were booming "firms are overpaying for people right now.  Every decent architect I know that is either looking for work or switching jobs has multiple offers to leverage with (if you don't mind doing mix-use and multi-family housing)-- it's crazy."

Finally, one thread sought a definition "What is Colorado architecture? What separates it from other mountain states? What gives it a regionalist feel?" FRO smartassed "Mesa Verde". Gabe Bergeron provided a better answer "Ultimately, I think architecture in Colorado is more about connection to nature than to architectural precedent. (generalizing here)...There is also the regionalism that is embodied by the...pioneer spirit, individualism, etc". switters maintained "it is overwhelmingly an architecture of sprawl (contempt for the landscape) rather than one of colorado's 'nature', landscape, or history".
 

Additionally
Over at the Denver Business Journal, Brad Segal (president of Progressive Urban Management Associates, a Denver-based community development consulting firm) argues that following the 2015 Denver Municipal Elections there is need for a new growth narrative, wherein "themes of sustainability, quality of life, diversity” are used to make the case for “affordable housing, well-designed density, mobility options beyond vehicles and improved public schools” as keys to future economic prosperity."