One of the newest additions to the downtown renaissance in Denver, CO, has a funky new “Urban Rural” look. Located just blocks from Coors Field in the historic 1860’s Curtis Park/Five Points neighborhoods, the new Jefferson At CityGate apartment building is part of a public/private initiate designed to revitalize Denver’s residential neighborhoods. When they received the commission, architects Looney Ricks & Kiss of Memphis, TN, were charged with creating a contemporary structure that was sympathetic to the historic nature of the neighborhood.

The architects wanted to achieve a contemporary “Urban Rural” look for the new 241-unit apartment building in a cost effective manner, and specified two different panel profiles to meet the scale sizes of the applications to the different parts of the structure. To side the stair towers and round drum walls, J&P Roofing Inc. of Denver fabricated and installed 15,000 sq. ft. of Alcoa Architectural Products' V-Beam panels. They were formed from 24-gauge Galvalume Plus-coated steel. As siding at the roof dormers, and as an accent for the bay windows, the firm fabricated and installed 20,000 sq. ft. of Alcoa's 2.67” Corrugated. Again, the panels were formed from 24-gauge Galvalume Plus-coated steel.

JPI Apartment Construction L.P. owns the complex and served as the project's general contractor.

The architectural challenge was in the installation of the panels, especially the trims, on the round drum section of the building,” said Joe Wheless of J&P Roofing Inc. “The design incorporated square windows into the curved plane of the round structure, which was particularly complex because the profile of V-Beam panels is fairly deep. We had to custom make all of the trim from flat stock sheets to maintain both a consistent look with the trims aesthetically and at the same time ensure a watertight integrity around all of the windows, doors and awnings. The other challenging aspect of the project was installing the metal siding at the stair towers, which rise over 80' in the air with very little access.”