MARCH 2016 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \
59
I
t’s a sign of the times that the Mile High City is
experiencing a boom as a meeting destination.
How can you go wrong with 300 days of sun-
shine a year, architecturally significant cultural
venues and world-class sports teams?
With the boom comes the need to constantly
upgrade and improve meeting facilities. The Hy-
att Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center
reached out with the idea of renovating its 102,000
square feet of meeting and prefunction space.
In anticipation of a two-month build-out schedule,
we worked in alignment with Hyatt Regency Brand
Standards and sustainability goals to extend a new
modern organic aesthetic for the meeting spaces that
would blend well with existing building elements. The
design and preconstruction team (Howell Construction
and NV5 project management) worked closely with Hy-
att Regency Denver to align the scope, budget and design
goals into one cohesive renovation.
As designers of the project, we looked at the environment as a
series of spaces that would energize and uplift guest experiences
during a wide variety of functions. In alignment with the contem-
porary design of the overall hotel and newly renovated guest rooms,
we focused on imparting a true sense of Colorado spirit and place,
evoking the nearby Rocky Mountains through layers of texture and
saturated earth tones within a framework of existing contemporary
design details.
Ballroom and meeting spaces are always a welcome design chal-
lenge. We want to create a sense of place, yet the setting needs to
complement any event type and color palette. For Hyatt Regency
Denver, we found this balance with multiple layers of textures in the
custom carpet to provide a solid base to ground the space, then kept
the walls light and airy. Chandeliers were a major existing element
that would remain, so we also needed to fit the new design seamless-
ly into the existing details.
The main ballroom, Centennial, can be divided up into eight sepa-
Laura Butler,
ASID/IIDA
Senior Inte-
rior Designer,
Rowland+
Broughton
Archi-
tecture/
Urban
Design/
Interior
Design
