The Mellon Financial Center - Denver, CO
Originally named Centennial Plaza, the Mellon Center (since renamed again) was the very first built work of Robert Fitzgerald; assigned to him on his first day at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in 1981. As a 32-story commercial office building and an addition to a jewel-like building designed by William Muchow, the task seemed daunting to the newly graduated Fitzgerald. Hand picked as a Senior Designer with the world-renowned firm, Fitz immediately began explorations of form, texture, color and sunlight. The Muchow building was to remain intact, but for the two-story insertion of outdoor escalators needed to make the vertical transition from Lincoln Street to Sherman. The square site was obligated to park as many as 300 cars, so the office functions do not begin until the 5th floor. Unwilling to ignore the neighborhood or the street, Fitzgerald and his team managed to inject retail functions, open aire seating and a year round enclosed atrium onto the very tight site as well. The scheme became focused upon an internal movement system - linking sidewalk with lobby, with elevator core, with retail, with atrium, with escalator, with lobby and again with sidewalk.
The unusual colorization of the curtain wall became a strong design theme as well. Knowing only that the adjacent Philip Johnson United Bank Building would be "pink", Fitz used colors from light to dark which explored the rose family of hue. The result was a dramatic addition to the eastern edge of the burgeoning Denver skyline.
Photos
Originally named Centennial Plaza, the Mellon Center (since renamed again) was the very first built work of Robert Fitzgerald; assigned to him on his first day at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in 1981. As a 32-story commercial office building and an addition to a jewel-like building designed by William Muchow, the task seemed daunting to the newly graduated Fitzgerald. Hand picked as a Senior Designer with the world-renowned firm, Fitz immediately began explorations of form, texture, color and sunlight. The Muchow building was to remain intact, but for the two-story insertion of outdoor escalators needed to make the vertical transition from Lincoln Street to Sherman. The square site was obligated to park as many as 300 cars, so the office functions do not begin until the 5th floor. Unwilling to ignore the neighborhood or the street, Fitzgerald and his team managed to inject retail functions, open aire seating and a year round enclosed atrium onto the very tight site as well. The scheme became focused upon an internal movement system - linking sidewalk with lobby, with elevator core, with retail, with atrium, with escalator, with lobby and again with sidewalk.
The unusual colorization of the curtain wall became a strong design theme as well. Knowing only that the adjacent Philip Johnson United Bank Building would be "pink", Fitz used colors from light to dark which explored the rose family of hue. The result was a dramatic addition to the eastern edge of the burgeoning Denver skyline.
