Denver

Photo courtesy Pezo Von Ellrichshausen

A median strip along busy Speer Boulevard in downtown Denver is an unlikely place to find an enigmatic tower of latticed wood. But as part of Draft Urbanism, one of several exhibitions in the Mile High City’s art festival the Biennial of the Americas, this delicate timber structure proves that an unremarkable setting can be the perfect counterpoint to architecture with a bit of drama. The “Mine Pavilion,” designed by Chilean firm Pezo Von Ellrichshausen, takes its form—and name—from the wooden gold-mining structures that once stood on its site. Though the 50-foot-tall, 9-foot-wide pavilion rests atop a base counterweighted by dozens of heavy boulders, its interior seems surprisingly lightweight, says Sofia von Ellrichshausen, cofounder with Mauricio Pezo of their eponymous firm. Visitors can walk in and around the space for a bit of respite and a pause for reflection, she adds. “We wanted to create a place where you can have a human moment in the midst of all this traffic.”