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.
