Museum Residences redefine multifamily living in the shadow of culture

Denver's Museum Residences opened last month just opposite the Denver Art Museum's new expansion. The high-end condos designed by Daniel Libeskind feature glass exteriors and almost no right angles in any of the 55 units.

By Pete Lewis

Some people aren't satisfied with the occasional stroll through the Denver Art Museum's recently completed Frederic Hamilton Building. The lucky few who have purchased a unit in the Museum Residences next door can literally enjoy the DAM's new addition from their living room.

Consisting of the two 7-story buildings, the 55-unit condominium project wraps around the south and west sides of the museum's new 980-car parking garage. A pedestrian promenade, Martin Plaza, is all that separates the residences' flowing glass exterior from the museum's new wing.

Like the museum expansion, which opened earlier this fall, Museum Residences was designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, in a joint venture with Denver's Davis Partnership. The project is Libeskind's first residential design in the United States.

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A Nice Wrap Job
While the condo project serves in part to help conceal the parking garage from museum visitors, it is designed to complement the museum's dramatic architecture as a fully integrated component of the entire complex.
"Early in the process, Libeskind suggested that rather than bury the parking garage, we build it above ground, save money that could be put toward the museum expansion, and wrap a residential development around the parking structure," said project developer George Thorn, president of Mile High Development. The firm's recent projects also include the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building in Denver and the University Physicians building at the Fitzsimons medical campus in Aurora.

When the city of Denver put out an RFP for the condo project in 2000, Thorn was one of only two developers to bid the project. "I think a lot of developers weren't interested because so many projects like this never happen," Thorn said. "I knew the city was serious and the project had the full support of the Webb administration and the art museum. We decided to roll the dice, but we needed someone bigger than us, with enough money to make the project work."

In 2001 Thorn teamed up with Corporex Colorado to form a joint venture, Museum Residences LLC. Corporex Colorado is part of the Cincinnati-based Corporex Family of Companies, which owns commercial properties at Denver International Airport and the Inverness Business Park in Englewood. The joint venture purchased two pads for the 126,300-sq-ft condo project on the south and west sides of the parking structure, and is in the process of purchasing a third site east of the garage for a 17-story condominium tower and six-story hotel.

Thorn, a former president of the Downtown Denver Partnership, has been primarily responsible for working with the city as well as for marketing and sales. Corporex focused on working with the contractor, Milender White Construction Co. of Golden.
Milender White already had worked with Corporex Colorado on the Embassy Suites at DIA, a relationship that gave the firm a foot up in the bidding process.

Odd Geometry
Milender White broke ground on May 17, 2005 and finished construction before Thanksgiving of this year. Shane Fobes, Milender White's project manager, summed up the challenges in constructing the project with one word - "geometry."

Libeskind, considered one of the most innovative architects in the world, positioned the parking garage at an angle, creating two irregular-shaped pads. He then designed Museum Residences with virtually no right angles. The exterior glass walls had to be constructed at positive and negative vertical angles while intersecting horizontally at odd angles. Fourteen concrete columns, also off vertical, had to be poured in sections. Every one of the 55 units has a unique floor plan with interior walls at odd angles.
Even the kitchen islands are positioned asymmetrically.

"The unique geometry made every aspect of construction, from the foundation to finish carpentry, a challenge, but it also made it fun," Fobes said. "Our guys couldn't just set their miter boxes at 90 degrees and go to work."

Early in the engineering process, Milender White's estimating team recommended post-tensioned concrete construction rather than the original structural steel. Fobes said the switch provided more clearance for duct work and cut construction costs by about $250,000.

Teamwork
While the entire museum expansion reflects Daniel Libeskind's innovative vision, Davis Partnership played a significant role from the very beginning. During the early stages of the design process, Davis' staff worked alongside Libeskind in Berlin.
During construction, several of Libeskind's architects relocated into Davis' Denver offices, and Libeskind himself visited Denver about very three weeks.

"Our biggest challenge was to make the interior livable," said Brit Probst, Davis' principal-in-charge for the DAM expansion and the Museum Residences. "With all the unusual angles, we had to make sure the interior space worked, that furniture would fit, and the units could function."

The Museum Residences have already had a dramatic impact on Denver residential market, Probst said. "In 2000, when we started this project, the luxury condo market was dominated by very traditional, neo-traditional architecture," he said. "This is by far the edgiest design for a residential project in the city, if not the nation. We promoted the innovative and contemporary architecture, and people have responded. I think people have more sophisticated tastes than they are given credit for."

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