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Launch Party & Tours

Saturday
Jul 15 2017
Sunday
Jul 16 2017

TOUR: Blue Silo Studios:
A Century of Change, From Creamery to Creatives

Explore Blue Silo Studios, housed in a building built in the 1800s and one of the original eight members of the RiNo Arts District.
Michael Gadlin

THIS EVENT SOLD OUT:
Tour: Go to The Source: Preview RiNo’s first hotel with Zeppelin Development

Be one of the first to get an exclusive, insider tour of the unique, innovative design and fabrications of Zeppelin Development’s The Source Hotel, launching late 2017.
Kyle Zeppelin
Justin Croft

Denver Design Week Launch Party – Saturday July 15

Come celebrate the launch of Denver Design Week on Saturday, July 15, with the party of the summer! Enjoy creative design displays, interactive art installations, local food and drink, and much more!

TOUR: Mid-Century Modern Gems:
A Virginia Village Home Tour

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.

TOUR: Where Wood Meets Steel:
Say Hello to This Transformative Globeville Workshop

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.
Ryan Dirksen

TOUR: Hogan Lovells:
Defining Denver’s Architectural Landscapes from the Inside

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. 
Chelsea Amell
Sarah Barker
Sarah McGarry
Josh Gould

TOUR: 16th Street Mall: Public Art?
You’re Walking On It

As a companion to our talk on the 16th Street Mall this walking tour explores the history and contemporary use of this Denver landmark.
John P. Olson
Sunday
Jul 16 2017
Monday
Jul 17 2017
Tuesday
Jul 18 2017
Wednesday
Jul 19 2017
Thursday
Jul 20 2017
Friday
Jul 21 2017
Friday
Oct 12 2018
Sunday
Oct 14 2018
Monday
Oct 15 2018
Tuesday
Oct 16 2018
Wednesday
Oct 17 2018
Thursday
Oct 18 2018
Friday
Oct 19 2018

Mid-Century Modern:
Pop Culture Trend or Enduringly Relevant Design?

Mid-Century Modern homes and their clean, minimalist style still appeals to modern home buyers, as much, or possibly more, than when they were built 50+ years ago. What is it about this style that endures and how can modern living fit into these vintage homes?
Adrian Kinney
Bill Nelson

TOUR: Hogan Lovells:
Defining Denver’s Architectural Landscapes from the Inside

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. 
Chelsea Amell
Sarah Barker
Sarah McGarry
Josh Gould

Autodesk Design Swarms Workshop: Hacking Homelessness

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.
Surya Vanka, IDSA

Glass, Concrete, and Fonts: Is Typography Relevant in all Design Fields?

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.
Kyle Read
Sandi Grigoryan
Doug Wilson
Travis Ladue

16th Street Mall:
The Spine of the City

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.
Annie Robb Levinsky
Rich L. Von Luhrte
Brad Buchanan
John Desmond

Cooking up the Future:
The Role of Technology in Modern Kitchen Design

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.
Kevin Vesel
Ed Hurley
Tamar Chang
Mark Hopwood

Designing an Affordable Denver:
Housing solutions for the 99%

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?
Jonathan Alpert
Jamie Licko
Nate Jenkins
Jeff Plous
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Intermission & Lunch Break

Design Optimization:
Technology is Changing How (and Why) We Design

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.
Robert K. Otani
Chris O’Hara

Craft and Customization:
Highlighting Denver’s Maker Movement

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.
Todd Budin
Donnie Criswell
Jordan Vaughn
Breton Lujan
Mike Blea
Phillip Mann

Good Design Is Good Business:
Creating Impactful, Modern Workplace Designs

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?
Pauline Bargell
Lynn Coit
Traci Lounsbury
Melissa Regan
Abbie Reece

Imagination Unleashed –
The Digital Invasion in Contemporary Art

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?
Ivar Zeile

Sustainable Design 10 Years Later:
A Look Into LEED’s Pivot to the “WELL” Building Standard

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?
Sydney Hamilton
Josh Radoff
Carson Shields
Rick Sommerfeld

An Indispensable Dialogue: The vital role of Landscape architecture in Modern Design

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.
Ransom Beegles

Keynote –
Reinventing Transportation:
The Disruption of Driverless Mobility

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.
Rutt Bridges

Solar Decathlon:
Innovation Through Competition

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.
Joe Simon

On The Menu:
Investing In The Future Of Sustainability

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.
Linda Hampsten Fox
Amory Narvaes

Why come into the office?
Exploring The Workplace In The Age Of The Digital Nomad

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?
Andrea Springer
Michelle Liebling
Eric Gonzales
Drew Marlow

Mise en Place:
Serving Up The Philosophy Of Organization

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?
Ken Andrews
Justin Cucci
Tommy Lee
Joshua Wills
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Intermission & Lunch Break

All Up In Your Biz:
Things To Know Before You Start-Up

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...
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Bill Allen
Steve Hurd

Pioneering Innovation & Preservation:
Practice, Pragmatism And The Wild West

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.
Eric Logan

Designing for Accessibility:
Overcoming The Outdated Notions Of Disability

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.
Damon McLeese

Micro-cinema film screening: Linotype

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.
Meredith Dale
Brian Dale
Doug Wilson

Responsive Learning = Innovation + Creativity

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.
Jim Stephens

Keynote –
Good Design:
Always Modern, Ever Traditional

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.
Christine G. H. Franck
Jeffrey Sheppard

Denver Women in Design:
A Celebration In Honor Of Florence Knoll’s 100th Birthday

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.
Jenny West
Gillian Hallock Johnson
Amy Siegel
Lisa M. Abendroth

IGNITE!
An Evening of Connection + Exploration + Discovery

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...
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TOUR: S*Park Sustainability Park – Cancelled DUE to SNOW!

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.
Sally Herbert
Ryan Tobin
Mike Moore
Jonathan Alpert

TOUR: Red Rocks – Behind the Scenes

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.

Design & Dine
Go Beyond The Dog Bowl

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.
Paul Banker
Michael Parness

Innovation by Design:
Every Organization Should Always Adapt and Pivot to Leverage Design Thinking

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
Thomas Lockwood
Edgar Papke

How the Sharing Economy is Shaping the Future of Design

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?
Jesse Bank
Katie Dabbs
Adam Fenton
Kelly Davis, AIA
12:30 pm-1:30 pm

Lunch Break

In Your Head:
Integrating Virtual and Augmented Reality
Into the Practice of Design

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
Adam Steinbach, NCARB, AIA
Jim Pfeiffer, NCARB

A “Sense” of Denver:
How to Collect and Present Using the 5 Senses an Accurate Depiction of the City You Live In!

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.
Stephan Clambaneva, IDSA, MMM, B-Eng

Keynote –
‘Ship of State’ – From the Crow’s Nest to the Keel, Expert Navigation Through Vision,
Design, and the Human Experience

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.
Eric Thoelke

Keynote –
Natural Form Contemporary Function:
A Zaha Hadid and Boffi Collaboration

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.
Filipe Pereira

The City in Nature
Elevating the Urban Landscape

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.
John McIntyre

Remembering Forward:
Hybrid Architectures from the 2018 Venice Architectural Biennale

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.
Mark Harris

The Kitchen As We Know It Is Dying:
Make Way For The Kitchen of The Future

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?
Lauren Murry
Brian Pignanelli
Beth Pilar Strongwater
Patti Naumann
Jed MacKenzie
12:30 pm-1:30 pm

Lunch Break

Enduring Tech
Making Sure the High-Tech Items We Choose Today are Still Relevant in a Decade

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.
Brian Baker

Social Media and Your Design-Focused Business:
What Works? What Doesn’t? And How Much Should You Invest in Your Digital Platforms?

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.
Abigail Plonkey
Holly Bell
Caroline Joan Peixoto
James Florio

The Personalization of Everyday Life

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?
Max Burton

Keynote –
Humans: Designing Within Our Species

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.
Dan Formosa, Ph.D.

Keynote – Drink Your Feelings
Learn How Creatives and Brewers Collaborate to Translate Craft Beer Concepts into Effective Brand Stories

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.
Michael Benjamin
Jacki Ognibene

Henry Ford in the 21st Century: the 3-D Printed Bike

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.
Doug Golenz

Can Tiny Homes Help Solve Denver’s Affordable Housing Crisis?

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.
Jonas DiCaprio
Peter Blank
Tim Reinen
12:30 pm-1:30 pm

Lunch Break

Hackathon:
The children of Today leading 3D printing tomorrow!

The 3D Printing Store’s workshop/hackathon/design competition.
Debra Wilcox
Adam Steinbach, NCARB, AIA

Keynote –
Empowering with Digital Print

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

Keynote –
Material, Craft and Technique: The Process of Design

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.
Hylnur Atlason
Jason Belaire

Data, Design and the Venture Studio:
A New Model for Social Change

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.
Aman Ahuja
Denise Gershbein

Design Local, Market Global:
Creating a Furniture Startup in Denver
and Marketing it Globally

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.
Michael McCoy
Julian Fentress

More Than A Logo:
How to Establish a Unique Brand in a Cookie Cutter 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
Becky Mickletz
Brandy Sachen
Brian Rogers
Josh Taylor

The Last 10% is Where the True Experience Lies

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.
Carolyn Copeland
Joe Malouff

Win by Design:
Lessons from the Frontlines

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.
Surya Vanka

Keynote: Design and Prototyping the First Immersive 6DoF Camera

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.
Joyce Hsu

Design Week Closing Party – “A Model for Design”

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...
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