Colorado Convention Center Phases I + II

Denver, Colorado, USA

The Phase II expansion more than doubled the convention center in size from 1 million to 2.4 million square feet.

Fentress Architect’s design for the Colorado Convention Center features dramatic, cantilevered stainless steel roof planes and extensive transparent curtainwalls.  It also marks Denver’s downtown district and redefines the city’s skyline. An expansive façade wraps the existing, operational convention center in grand, transparent public spaces, while also doubling the amount of exhibition and preregistration space.

The center’s luminous lobbies are bathed in natural light that washes over art pieces, circular light fixtures and a host of other humanizing elements. These features give patrons a moment of repose to orient themselves before proceeding down the Grand Concourse or up escalators to the exhibit hall.

Flexibility & Functionality

The facility is altogether designed to maximize flexibility and thereby meet the needs of large, midsize and small conventions. For example, moveable wall partitions allow the exhibit hall to be divided into a dozen different configurations and up to six rooms, each with its own audiovisual capabilities and access to bathrooms, concessions and loading docks. For added convenience, 75-foot-long semitrailer trucks can drive directly onto the exhibit floor to unload large exhibits.

Award-Winning Design

  • American Architecture Award, Chicago Athenaeum, 2008
  • Grand Award Winner (Best Public/Private Special Use Facility), Gold Nugget Awards Pacific Coast Builders Conference, 2005
  • Award of Excellence, American Concrete Institute, 1991
  • Award of Honor, Downtown Denver Partnership, 1991
  • Grand Award, Gold Nugget Awards, Pacific Coast Builders Conference, 1991
  • Honor Award, AIA Denver, 1991
  • Honor Award, AIA Colorado, 1990
  • Outstanding Engineering Achievement, National Society for Professional Engineers, 1990
  • Development of the Year Award, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, National Association of Realtors, 1990
  • Development of the Year Award, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, 1988
  • Merit Award, AIA Western Mountain Region, 1990
  • First Place, Design Competition, 1987

USGBC LEED Existing Building-Certified

Our commitment to sustainability helped make this building one of the three largest LEED-certified convention centers in the US.

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