Have you ever wanted to peek inside one of Denver's spectacular mid-mod homes? Well, now you can tour seven of these delightful gems, and help a local school.

Where Wood Meets Steel has been in business since 2007 in the now up-and-coming RiNo neighborhood. The fabrication workshop designs and builds custom furniture and fixtures for living and working spaces.

The Leaders of RNL Design will guide you through the process of how this unique space was created and will provide an in depth understanding of how the concept was implemented throughout this 70,000 square foot office hosting 100 attorneys and support staff. 

As a companion to our talk on the 16th Street Mall this walking tour explores the history and contemporary use of this Denver landmark.

This is a day-long event led by Surya Vanka the creator of Design Swarms Workshops. Participants will be provided all materials, tools, and a completion certificate. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Autodesk the regular workshop fee of $400 has been subsided to $25 only for Denver Design Week 2017 attendees.

Typography defines a business and visually informs the world about its identity. Good typography promotes a brand, while bad typography can sink it. Learn the myriad ways the art of typography is used (and abused) in the world of design.

What is the future of the historic “backbone” of Denver’s 16th Street Mall? Originally the thoroughfare from the Highlands to the Capitol, 16th Street has transformed over the years to become an important public transportation hub and pedestrian promenade. Learn about the past, present and future of this historic Denver street.

What’s next for the most important space in your house? Learn the answer from leading kitchen designers and top appliance experts who will reveal the latest in kitchen technology and the role it will play in kitchen design.

Denver housing prices have skyrocketed, making it difficult for many to afford a home. And Millennials, who embrace the shared life, just don’t want large dwellings. It seems that micro housing is the perfect solution, but is it really cost effective for developers and will planning and zoning adapt to support it?

Two designers explain how their forward-thinking firms are using new technology and techniques to create cutting edge work. Further, they’ll explain how it relates to ongoing projects both in Colorado and nationally.

By ignoring the lure of mass production and emphasizing the craft and authenticity of their handmade products, Denver’s professional maker-community has found their niche in the greater design and retail world.

Can employers be aware of whether their workplace environment is a help or a hindrance to their employees? And how can they raise the bar (on a budget) to retain their workforce and enhance the reputation of their brand?

Artists have always been innovators, reaching for new tools to express their artistic visions. Today, as technology advances, how are artists embracing the digital realm to take their work in exciting new directions?

How do various sustainability certifications programs’ successes and failures––as well as the potentials of initiatives and rating systems––continue to impact our built and natural environment?

Landscape Architects play an important role in collaborating with architects to celebrate the beauty of a place through design. Explore this relationship and why Colorado provides the perfect opportunity for inspired modern design that celebrates the surroundings.

Driverless vehicles are guaranteed to change society, infrastructure, and the economy. Author and expert Rutt Bridges explores this new frontier and how it will impact the world.

Every year the US Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon enlists teams of college students to design, build, and operate the most cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive solar-powered house. This October Denver will host the competition, with a dozen homes available for the public to tour. Learn more about this exclusive event and the innovations that grow from the creative energy this competition sparks.

How can sustainability be good business? Join chef-owner Linda Hampsten Fox and GC Amory Narvaes for a lively talk on their experiences and investments in sustainable technology while working on The Bindery, Ltd, Eatery, Bakery, Market in Denver’s LoHi neighborhood.

As our business communication moves nearly exclusively to digital conversations and our work can be accessed anywhere, are physical desks and workplaces still relevant? What makes coming into the office a necessary part of modern working world?

Mise en place is a French culinary phrase which means "everything in its place." This philosophy can be carried over from the kitchen to enhance the work of other types of creative professions. But how and why can this philosophy create a higher level of preparedness to ensure more efficient workflow?

Thinking of starting your own design firm? Learn how several young Denver designers have branched out to start their own businesses. Learn tips, tricks, challenges, and opportunities for starting your... Read More

The landscape of the west requires a unique language of design. Eric Logan, as a principal of Carney Logan Burke Architects has helped to develop a design philosophy that that embraces the spirit and history of the west and a harmonious relationship with nature.

There are nearly 56 million people with disabilities living in the US, which represents nearly 20 percent of the population. From high tech wheelchairs to 3-d prosthetic limbs, learn how designers are pushing boundaries and redefining the limitations of disabilities.

A temporary micro-cinema on wheels designed by Denver-based Sort Studio will host an intimate screening of Denver Design Week speaker Doug Wilson’s documentary Linotype: The Film.

This interactive studio session will allow participants to flex their own design muscles while exploring how cultures of responsive learning can maximize an organizations creative potential.

Renowned architect Jeff Sheppard and CU Denver’s CARTA Director Christine G. H. Franck discuss core principles that underlie all good design—and how principles common to modernist and traditional design can advance design quality today.

Celebrate the 100th birthday of iconic designer Florence Knoll with a panel of women designers and architects discussing the state of women in Colorado design including where it’s going and what could be focused on to make it better.

Education Navigate. Discover. Connect. IGNITE. This cross-disciplinary event will bring together seasoned professionals and future designers/makers in the fields of Architecture + Interiors, Technology, Graphic Design, and Product/Industrial Design, presented... Read More

Spark Sustainability Park is RiNo’s is focused on re-defining what an urban housing community should be and is focused on providing a healthy and sustainable environment for its community to live and grow.

Experience a once in a lifetime-guided tour of where the ROCK legends of MUSIC arrive, stage and maneuver the underground tunnels of majestic Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Join and learn the secrets from the Denver based company Outward Hound as their leaders take you through the 360 process from ideation through production.

Being successful has always relied on the ability to work together and be creative. Learn how any organization can leverage design thinking to produce change, drive new ideas and deliver meaningful solutions

In the new “sharing economy” we own much less and share much more. How will the places where people live, work, and play change to adapt to the “less is more” lifestyle?

Explore how virtual reality’s adoption into the creative process improves communication between designer and client, minimizes potential conflicts in the field and promotes a more collaborative design and construction process

Explore how we, as designers, can create richer interactions with our cities by utilizing and experiencing it with our five human senses of touch, taste, smell, sound and sight.

This talk will discuss the challenges, opportunities, and the responsibility of creative thinkers in developing our cultural hubs. Giving each of us a compelling perspective on our role(s) as community stabilizers, but also visionaries.

Zaha Hadid Architects’ Filipe Pereira will provide a narrative of 520 W. 28th New York’s history, design strategy and build. The session will also focus on the project’s custom kitchen — COVE – that Zaha Hadid designed with, Boffi.

A discussion of the city’s evolution looking to the past, present and future of Denver’s urban green spaces. Using case studies from Tryba Architects’ projects including Denver’s Botanic Gardens and Google’s Boulder Headquarters.

Our cities and buildings speak to how we see ourselves and the world around us. Discuss how architecture can comment on the ever-evolving notion of our human condition.

The kitchen as older generations have known it is making way for the kitchen of the future. The kitchen is now home office, entertainment central, place of homework doing and project collaborating. How do advances in appliance technology and the changes in meal preparation inform kitchen design today?

Good choices in high-tech can positively impact any space, we will discuss three important criteria for choosing high-tech products that will still be relevant in a decade.

This presentation and discussion will delve into the oftentimes confusing and opaque waters of social media for design-focused firms. Social media platforms can be a powerful tool for design businesses to elevate their branding and drive tangible business, yet many design-focused businesses don't know how to best utilize them to their advantage. Social media experts will speak to best practices, and design pros will offer their thoughts on how important social media is to a design-focused firm. Architectural photographer James Florio will also talk about how he incorporates social media into his business and provide ideas on how to capture the best images of your work.

The mass-produced repeatability no longer holds the value it once did Advanced algorithms anticipate our individual needs and wants. What are the up side of personalization? More authentic experiences? What are the downsides?

This talk will cover a number of topics centered on what we know and don't know about people including instincts v. preconceptions and the ability of design to influence behavior, and the power it can give us as designers.

Design can have emotional resonance, particularly in the craft beer world. Presenters from Anthem Branding and Upslope brewing will discuss collaboration between brewers and designers.

Since Henry Ford, we have developed processes to fit mass production and mass consumption. Now, today, disruptive technology is changing the game again and the limits will be on us as designers, not process or capital.

Interest in Tiny Homes has continued to grow and gain momentum across the country and here in Colorado. This session will explore ideas on how they could be one solution to affordable housing in our state.

The 3D Printing Store’s workshop/hackathon/design competition.

When the tools don’t get you the results you need. How digital printing made me a better designer.

Learn about designer Hylnur Atlason and his Manhattan-based studio and how they take on so many different project types, from a women’s razor to Xbox packaging to DWR’s wonderful womb of a chair, the Lîna Swivel.

Today’s challenges are so complex it is hard to make meaningful change. Denise and Aman’s work often achieves impact through “perturbing the system” - working at several levels at once and releasing solutions that affect the system in multiple places.

The story of how an nationally known designer collaborated with a local Denver designer to create iconic functional furniture for airports with a discussion about forming a local company and marketing it to the world.

We will dive into how every moving piece of your brand (and the experience that comes with it) can showcase this and how something like a font change can completely change a brand’s message

From interactive touchscreens to high impact video walls, Digital Signage is changing how we design spaces allowing us to strategically communicate messaging like we never have before.

In this talk, Surya Vanka will share practical tips for organizations large and small to use design as a competitive advantage. He will share lessons learned from the frontlines from service design, interaction design and industrial design.

Join Joyce Hsu, a classically trained architect who heads up Facebook’s 3D projects, to learn more about the origins and future plans of The tech company’s cavernous “hardware lab,” sometimes called Area 404.

Closing Event “A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasured.” -Louis Kahn Celebrate... Read More