Kalaco: Connecting the Past & Future with Art

Denver's Colfax Street is the longest commercial street in America, running east-west across the Mile-High City. Stretching a total of 26.5 miles, it connects such notable downtown landmarks as the State Capitol building and Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to a menagerie of inner-city neighborhoods, each boasting a rich history, unique personality and diverse culture.

At its intersection with Kalamath Street, Colfax becomes a gateway into one of Denver's oldest neighborhoods: La Alma Lincoln Park, once home to the Apache, Ute, Cheyenne, Comanche and Arapahoe peoples and more recently to Denver's Chicano Movement. The community is also home to Denver's Art District on Santa Fe, the city's arts and cultural district, which boasts a variety of creative businesses, including what is believed to be the highest density of art galleries in the country.

This historic intersection offers unobstructed views of downtown Denver and the Front Range and is now the site of Kalaco Apartments, a seven-story 280-unit multifamily development with 9,400 square feet of retail space.

Location, Location, Location

Though once a busy retail corner, in recent years the intersection of Colfax and Kalamath saw several businesses close and other buildings left vacant. But Eric Chamberlin, Director of Real Estate Development, and our designers saw an opportunity for redevelopment and to once again bring attention to the La Alma neighborhood's attributes and amenities.

Kalaco is within walking distance of several elementary schools, the Auraria campus, a park and the Arts District. It's an appealing place to be – more housing options will help welcome students, families and artists. It's also at a prominent intersection for those heading to downtown or into the mountains, making it a perfect place to pay homage to La Alma's heritage, while also showing that people are entering a vibrant, creative community.

Honoring the neighborhood's history and heritage was also something neighborhood groups strongly encouraged and given the proximity to the Art District they suggested hiring a local artist to turn the building's blank walls into public-facing works of art. Our team went a step or two further, hiring an exceptionally talented Mexican-American muralist with strong ties to the La Alma neighborhood as well as a sculptor whose work is installed across Colorado.

A Wall is His Canvas

La Alma native John Droplitz has painted well over 50 murals, each a unique combination of color, emotion and energy, and each a breathtaking reflection of its surroundings. Of the Kalaco Apartments opportunity, he said, “Being Chicano and knowing the La Alma neighborhood as well I do, I felt called to pursue this project."

In fact, in response to the initial request for response, John, who attended and graduated from college in the La Alma neighborhood, shared 20 different designs hoping that one would resonate with our team. He was particularly partial to a design he named, “Peace Lily." To his delight, not only was he selected to be the muralist for the project, but “Peace Lily" was the winning design.

As John describes it, “Peace Lily" depicts a Chicano woman named Lily meditating among the lilies. The leaves, lines and shapes around her represent the culture, love and peace she is radiating outward; the orange borders represent the cosmic balance between that peace and the chaos of the world. Rather than depicting the challenges Mexican-American people encounter, a common theme in Chicano art, 'Peace Lily' depicts rising above those challenges.

“Visual art is one of the ways I communicate my thoughts and my meditations. They come to life with every brush stroke, and I let what influences me, like the community, the intent of the project and my personal history guide my hand. With large scale art, murals especially, I try to communicate a sense of empowerment, and in 'Peace Lily' I think that really comes through. When we ourselves are at peace, we are empowered to be peace for each other."

Vertical Endeavors

The city of Denver requires amenity zones between the street and the sidewalk on all outward facing sides of new or renovated buildings. These eight-foot-wide zones are intended to promote pedestrian activity and generally include bus stops, benches, bike racks and plantings.

After seeing one of Joshua Ware's sculptures on the nearby Auraria campus, our team approached him about participating in the Kalaco project. Like John Droplitz, Joshua also has deep connections to the La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood and was aligned with our goal of creating art to honor and celebrate the community.

“I moved to Denver in 2001 and have been in and out of the city for nearly 25 years. For the past seven years, I've lived in Lincoln Park, just a few blocks south of the newly built Kalaco Apartments," said Joshua. “I earned my Master's degree in English Literature across the street at the University of Colorado Denver, and I patronized the establishments that once existed where Kalaco Apartments are today. To this extent, this neighborhood, this site and this intersection have been a part of my daily life for much of the past 20 years."

Joshua is known for incorporating geometric shapes, color blocks and patterns into his sculptures. For Kalaco Apartments, he created three distinct forms for the 10 sculptures, each of which rise six feet in height, including:

• zig-zags, which, in his words, embody geologic and historic time insofar as they mirror contours of the mountains and Colfax Avenue
• cantilevers, which he noted are indicative of our contemporary time and current urban development
• a hybrid of the two, which he said offer a suggestion for how we can create a future that protects our environment and honors our past while simultaneously building a new and exciting infrastructure for Denver

Joshua named the collection, “A Series of Objects Inscribing Geologic & Human Time."

“The verb form of inscribe gestures toward how built environments – in the form of architecture or art – are a type of writing or inscription. When we build large objects, we are, in essence, writing on the land. The land, indeed, is a text," mused Joshua.

The art of Kalaco will serve as a gift to the community for many years to come.

• More about Kalaco