ABSTRACT
Art can be seen at the Denver Art Museum in two main buildings: the 1971 North
Building by Gio Ponti and the 2006 Hamilton Building by Daniel Libeskind.
Additionally, the staff are housed in a nearby and much more conventional building,
and the main museum restaurant occupies a remnant of an older building. With
this amalgamation of spaces, the Hamilton Building provides the museum with a
visual identity; even people who have never been to the museum know what the
building looks like. It has also helped the Denver tourism board craft an image of
the city as a center of arts and culture. The building was controversial when it was
being built, and it generated conversations about art and architecture-issues that
had not previously been prominent in popular discourse in the city. Thus, the users
of the building are more than just visitors, but residents of Denver more broadly.
