As mentioned in a previous post, my firm is involved in the new Denver Justice Center, specifically the new courthouse in downtown Denver, right next to the US Mint. It is a really high-profile project, and will be a major fixture downtown. Steven Holl won an international competition with us to design the courthouse, in an effort to bring "world class" architecture to denver (he was named world's greatest architect by Time magazine in 2001 according to an article I read).
Well, things somehow went awry between Holl and the city, and while I can't say exactly what happened (partly because I really don't know much since I wasn't involved in any of the politics, and partly because its semi-confidential), Steven Holl has left the project, and we now have a mandate to redesign the entire thing from scratch, under budget, with their newly rigid design preferences, still creating a "world class" building, and we have about 8 weeks to do it. The image above is Holl's design, which will be scrapped.
It could be a huge breakout project for us, but still we're all pretty bummed that there isn't going to be a Steven Holl project in Denver. He got along really well with everyone at the office, and I don't think there was really a design issue with him like the press seems to be implying. Contrary to the fears expressed in some of the articles, though, I happen to know we have a really great design in the works (don't worry, I'm not in charge).
Here's links to various articles about it:
Rocky Mountain News 1
Rocky Mountain News 2
Rocky Mountain News 3
Denver Post 1
Denver Post 2
Denver Post 3
If you're really interested, you can watch a video of him presenting his design here
2 comments:
Oh the drama! It could be a great opportunity for your firm and you already know what it needs to better than, so...
I'm with Rachel, don't sell yourself short. (By the way hi Rachel don't think we met...so your one of the couples who encouraged our 2 dear beloved ones (and now beloved grandchild) to travel yea so many miles from their nurturing empty nested parents.) (Just kidding, honest we look forward to meeting you one day on a visit to the Rocky Mtn State.)
Larry & Theresa
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