No Vacancy 2.0

Independent art practice today exists in a state of precarious future. Even as it changes in many ways, the structures supporting artists’ livelihoods are eroding. This raises a critical question: what infrastructures can be designed to sustain meaningful ongoing exchanges between artists and the community in an affordable and sustainable manner?

​

At 1338 Emerson St, our approach prioritizes minimal interventions and precise strategic incisions of modules. The new building is framed by the spatial fragments of the past and embraces the generative potential of accidents and unforeseen encounters, fostering an architecture of friction. The site’s layered history and complexity demand a design strategy that is both pragmatic and poetic – a framework open to interior adaptation and the chaos of a budding artist.

​

In the context of a gentrifying Capitol Hill, where cultural production risks becoming fragmented and homogenized, the building serve as a dynamic field for the whole life-cycle of art. By giving visibility to process and practice, this space repositions art as a vital and participatory force within Denver’s social, artistic and cultural fabric.