Denver, Colorado, USA
Located in Denver’s Arapahoe Square neighborhood, the Buell Public Media Center designed by Tryba Architects will become a focal point at the center of commerce, cultural heritage, and media arts.
Home to Rocky Mountain Public Media—parent of Rocky Mountain PBS and KUVO-FM Jazz radio—the building contains a collection of spaces vital to public media: production and performance studios, a community media center, offices, community conference rooms, and ample space for broadcast technology equipment.
The project has been awarded a 2021 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The Buell Public Media Center building facilitates children’s engagement with an interactive exhibit, the Family Learning Center.
The design supports a diverse program centered around performance, technology, and media while reflecting the architectural character of the emerging downtown community and uniquely expressing Rocky Mountain Public Media’s vision and culture in the urban context.
It also responds to the vibrant character of the neighborhood, incorporating a mix of urban uses and interweaving of adjacent textures and scale.
Technical requirements of the programming were implemented while turning the building “inside out” to reinvent the broadcast facility typology by engaging the community.
Civic and inviting, generous glazing at the street level reveals views into the live Jazz Performance Studio while acoustically sensitive structural, architectural and mechanical design keeps sound and vibrations out, contributing to an uninterrupted live performance and recording experience.
The aesthetic design of the studio spaces is characteristic of a black box with minimal treatment, allowing theatrical lighting and acoustics to truly take the spotlight.
The exception to the stripped-down design treatment is in the studio home to KUVO Jazz, where acoustic wood wall panels distribute and diffuse sound in a way that is customized to enhance jazz performances, creating music that is lively and full.
The second-floor 24-hour on-air broadcast studio spaces for KUVO Jazz offer views of and are highly visible from 21st and Arapahoe streets, further celebrating a new cultural beacon at an important downtown intersection.
Project: Buell Public Media Center
Architects: Tryba Architects
Client: Rocky Mountain Public Media
General Contractor: M.A. Mortenson Construction
Photographer: James Florio
