The cultural institution?s North Building will close in November in preparation for the expansion Editor's Note: This post was originally published in December 2016 and has been updated with the most recent information.
The late, great Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti has been making headlines a lot as of late. First, there was news about efforts to preserve Ponti?s only work in Iran, the Villa Namazee, a private residence built in the late 1950s, which is under threat of demolition to make way for a hotel in the country?s capital, Tehran.
Now, word is that Ponti?s only work in the U.S., the seven-story, 1971-built North Building at the Denver Art Museum, is getting a $150 million revamp, courtesy Boston firm Machado Silvetti and Denver?s Fentress Architects, of Denver International Airport fame. The building?with its fortress-like, multi-sided shape, glass-tile-clad facade, and irregular, angular windows?embodies in many ways Ponti?s enigmatic modernism.
The revamp will be a big undertaking (adding a total of about 33,000 square feet), and will create better connections between the Ponti building and the jagged 2006 addition by Daniel Libeskind.
According to BusinessDen, specific improvements includes: an education area inside the museum, a pedestrian terrace on the seventh floor, better insulation, an expanded outdoor courtyard, and a new two-story welcome center.
The building will close on November 19 to begin construction. Work is expected to wrap up in...