Back in 2021 I wrote about a futuristic new building — One River North — being planned for downtown Denver. You might remember the pictures of a building with a greenery-filled canyon splitting it diagonally. Occasionally after that I looked for stories about its progress and finding none, eventually concluded that the attention-grabbing structure literally never got off the ground.
Then today I stumbled across a story announcing that the new high-rise has reached the pre-leasing stage and is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. One River North lives! The unusual 16-story structure is located, appropriately, in the city’s River North (RiNo) arts district.
If I were one to go driving around downtown Denver, I might have known the building has been under construction all this time, but I’m not. In my 18 or so years here, the only time I’ve been on my own in downtown Denver was to meet an out-of-town relative for lunch. (I’m not the least bit inclined to tackle the downtown area of any city, much less one as big and busy as Denver.)
It seems One River North topped out in January of this year. It has 187 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments ranging in size from 625 to 2,500 square feet. All will have floor-to-ceiling windows and some will have terraces.
The vegetation in the “canyon” will be native or adaptable to Colorado’s high plains climate and will change as the seasons change. (No aspens, however. They don’t play nice in urban areas.) The roof is “emblematic of a mountain plateau at the building’s summit,” according to developers. There also will be water elements and a trail-like walkway that crosses four floors. Imagine living in a place like this, especially in a west-facing unit with an unobstructed view of the Rocky Mountains …
An intriguing article in The Denver Post last month described the building’s features in great detail. And yes, I missed that story too. Until today.
As intrigued as I am, I wouldn’t give up my little house in the ‘burbs, even if I could afford a super expensive high-rise pad with a mountain view. My 70-pound pup wouldn’t be happy there. But to see such a place, a building with a canyon slicing through its heart, I might actually venture downtown again.
Just once.
Maybe.
I LOVE creative architecture – when it works. Really looking forward to seeing some photos rather than what’s planned.
How come Charley gets a mention but not Rowdy ? 🙂
Because Rowdy is small enough that there’s a good chance he’d be allowed. And he wouldn’t need to be taken outdoors.
I imagine photos of the finished building will look very much like the architectural rendering. But we’ll see. Assuming somebody actually publishes some and I actually see them. It does look like from the October photo that a photographer can get far enough away from the building to get a good shot.
I just hope this works as planned — that the plants all live happily, get enough water, air, and sun to thrive as they should. Would be such a shame if they had to give up on that and just stuck in artificial plants or something. But since nobody’s ever built a building like this, at least not here, who knows?
wow
Jaw-dropping, to say the least.
Remarkable!
It really is. Like something out of a sci-fi movie.
That’s a cool looking building. I like the concept, but like you, I’m not leaving my nice house for that.
Earlier this morning I was looking at the pictures and wondering what will happen there when we have a big snowstorm and all those open spaces fill with blowing snow. Who shovels? How? Where will all the melting stuff go?