April 13, 2004

The Denver Museum of Contemporary Art today announced today the choice of David Adjaye of Adjaye/Associates of London to design its permanent building.

The 15,000 to 20,000 square foot structure will provide the museum – formerly without a home- with spaces for galleries, education, lectures and movies, as well as an outdoor sculpture center.

Adjaye was chosen among an impressive field that included TEN Arquitectos of Mexico, Snohetta of Norway, Rick Joy Architects of Arizona, Predock_Frane of New Mexico, and Gluckman Mayner Architects of New York. The selection process took seven months and included extensive interviews from not only museum officials but from the public in the form of several lectures.

"We asked for an architect who would build a building that supports rather than defines the mission," noted museum curator and director Sydney Payton. "He had a direct relationship to the mission, and he had a clear understanding of contemporary art."

Adjaye/ Associates, formed in 2000, has designed ultra-modern buildings for the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, The Idea Stores, and two libraries in Tower Hamlets, England.

Founded in 1996, the Museum of Contemporary Art is currently located in a temporary space in Sakura Square in Denver. Complimenting Daniel Libeskind’s upcoming Denver Museum of Art, located less than a mile from the Contemporary, the museum helps give the city some of the most cutting edge architecture in the country.

"We hope it brings attention to Denver. It’s an ongoing part of an ongoing architectural dialogue with what’s happening here," said Payton. There’s still a little bit of that residue of another time. There is this kind of ‘let’s get this done" attitude here."

The museum is planned for a late 2006 opening.

Sam Lubell

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