DENVER — “Is it a hydrophonic grow building? Is it Swiss cheese? What is it?"
These are only a handful of the questions that George Prine, the general manager of the new Populus Hotel in downtown Denver, gets asked regularly.
But the architect had a specific idea in mind when she designed the unique building.
"When she decided — Genie Gans — that she was going to do an Aspen tree, everyone was like 'what?' And then when she put this together. It’s absolutely beautiful," Prine said.
365 panels in 65 unique configurations create the trunks and the eyes of Aspen trees.
"Populus is going to be one of the most architectural hotels in the country once we open,” Prine said.
The little triangle of land where the Populus now sits was the site of the first gas station permitted in the state of Colorado.
Now it’s a biophilic design in hopes of connecting people with nature by incorporating nature throughout the hotel.
"There’s nothing like it in town," Prine said.
"There’s a huge wow factor when you walk in," Prine said.
There are, what Prine described as, wood ceiling clouds that are made of recycled snow fences from Wyoming.
But the first thing you’ll see when you walk in is not a lobby, but one of two of the hotels restaurants. The food will be a nature-based cuisine.
"We’re gonna try not to manipulate the food too much so you get all the proteins coming together as their intended to be," Prine said.
From both restaurants — one on the bottom floor and the top — visitors will get incredible views of the Colorado State Capitol, the Denver City and County Building and the Denver Mint.
Every hotel room provides a view through the eyes of the Aspen tree and in some rooms, there's a window hammock.
"We just want to be a part of all of that revised energy that’s happening downtown Denver,” Prine said.
While the building is attention-grabbing, Prine emphasized the hotel's mission to keep nature front-of-mind.
"We look at this hotel as its own ecosystem — from the people who work here, to the food we order, the supplies, we want to get as close as possible to a near zero waste environment,” Prine said.
The construction crew even added little dots on the windows to ensure birds don't run into them.
It won’t be long that everyone can experience this eye-catching building for themselves. The opening date is Sept. 18.
"There’s still a lot of work to be done but everyone is confident that we’ll make that date," Prine told Denver7.
During the whole building process, the owners of the hotel have also planted around 70,000 trees in Gunnsion County.
