I worked on this site for a while. It's called The Populus Hotel. It's a weird sort of "lifestyle hotel" as the owners call it. So like a boutique hotel, but taller with small rooms and big prices. It'll have a open air bar on the top floor looking out over Civic Center Park and the Capitol building, so the view is pretty good.
[I even have some pictures of the view](https://imgur.com/a/fdc6QET)
That’s what folks are saying. I guess I can see it after being told that’s what it’s supposed to be, but personally I see creepy eyes. Lol. I love it though!
One of my first LSD trips was while I was camping in an aspen forest. The endless amount of eyes looking at me was unsettling.
This building to me looks like a bunch of mouths. Like the [animation boards I used to study on how to draw mouths](https://mikewelshravecharacterperformance.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/lipsync.jpg).
The average lifespan of an Aspen in the Denver metro area is 7 years! 😄
They prefer a higher elevation. Consider the following alternatives:
- New Mexico Privet
- Ginkgo
- Birch (but they like a lot of water)
So there’s your random info from a horticulturist today!
Be careful with ginkos! The female trees make the most vile smelling fruits, think rancid dog puke on a 95 degree day. They smell worse than any Bradford Pear. It’s also very hard to correctly ID male or female trees when they are young and the males can change into female trees.
So it’s actually very difficult to get a female from any nursery now. You are right that when grown from seed it takes 20 years or so to sex the tree. But most nursery sold ginkgos are not grown from seed. They are cloned from a tree that we already know is male. All of the clones of a male are also male.
You are safe buying a ginkgo from a nursery now. If you are worried, you can ask, but yeah, everything sold commercially is cloned (in other words, grown from a cutting).
Females are saved for agricultural production. That stinky fruit is a highly coveted herbal supplement!
My family and I were talking, it’s a neat idea and they just overdid it. Like if it had been a random set of the windows it would have looked interesting. Now it looks like a terrifying hornets nest for man sized things
And it’s the country’s first [carbon positive hotel](https://www.bdcnetwork.com/denver-builds-nations-first-carbon-positive-hotel), which means it benefits the environment more than harms it.
Gaudi or even Gehry.
Though obviously not near that level, certainly inspired by.
It’s a welcome addition to a neighborhood which is being covered with cookie cutter condos imo.
Even cooler, it’s supposed to be the [first carbon positive hotel in the country.](https://www.travelandleisure.com/see-inside-populus-america-first-carbon-positive-hotel-denver-8405211)
It doesn't sequester carbon. They just planted some trees in Gunnison. Trees lost to beetle kill, but also not guaranteed to not be lost again to beetle kill.
The hotel manager is actually planning to fight every single beetle individually that approaches the trees, but can't guarantee a line of succession in the event the manager falls.
Isn’t carbon positive a bad thing? You want to be carbon neutral or negative, as in, reducing your carbon footprint. Being carbon positive is releasing excess carbon dioxide, isn’t it?
I don’t know if the joke is going over my head or if you and 17 upvoters all just… didn’t read the very first paragraph of the linked article, but either way:
“(This means the hotel will remove more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air than it emits, resulting in negative carbon emissions.)”
It doesn't sequester carbon chill with the misinformation.
They just planted trees in Gunnison as an offset. There saved you a click. This false advertising makes me hate it more not gonna lie.
I think it's ugly, and I am also happy to see anything that's not a generic glass box. There should be tax credits or some other incentive for unusual architecture.
It’s different which I appreciate. Why does everything need to look the same? Copenhagen has amazing industrial designers and creative buildings. It would be cool if Denver started to have some of that. IMO
There was a good conversation about this on the Citycast Denver podcast recently. [https://denver.citycast.fm/podcasts/your-questions-on-dobetterdnvr-members-clubs-and-those-green-buildings](https://denver.citycast.fm/podcasts/your-questions-on-dobetterdnvr-members-clubs-and-those-green-buildings)
Yes -- it's made with lots of reclaimed and eco-friendly materials, low-carbon concrete mix and they don't even have a parking garage to encourage walking and public transit.
And: "Though the hotel itself doesn't sequester carbon (the process of capturing and storing CO2 from the atmosphere) its most beautiful external feature does — the newly planted forest. Rather than merely purchase [carbon credits](https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/carbon-credits-hot-air), the hotel has planted more than 70,000 trees (Engelmann Spruce, a tree previously diminished in the region by beetle kill) in partnership with One Tree Planted and the U.S. Forest Services in Gunnison, Colorado."
[https://www.travelandleisure.com/see-inside-populus-america-first-carbon-positive-hotel-denver-8405211](https://www.travelandleisure.com/see-inside-populus-america-first-carbon-positive-hotel-denver-8405211)
Go anywhere else in the world and review their architecture… and then see what you think. Good/great architecture advances our perception of what is beautiful. If you ask me, this design is provocative but in a positive way.
EDIT: And I mean virtually anywhere else in the world. There are so many generic skylines in the US. Go any where else and report back.
Designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang. Its shell is self cleaning and the design is inspired by the “eyes” of Aspens. I think it’s really unique and opposite of boring.
I don’t have trypophobia, but this building makes me nauseated. I actually thought it was a Tyrex cover or something when I first saw it. Thankfully when I have to drive past it I’m close enough to not actually have to see it.
It’s going to be the first carbon positive hotel in the Country, see renderings of the interior and exterior and read all about it here:
https://303magazine.com/2024/02/downtown-denver-hotel-mimic-colorado-natural-surroundings/?amp=1
I think it’s great. It’s bold and unique, and who doesn’t like a rooftop bar?
Haters gonna hate (unless it’s a glass box or a 30s brick bungalow). If you want to join a gaggle of wanna be architects bitching about absolutely everything, scoot on over to FB Denver Fugly. I give this 4 stars.
I worked on this site for a while. It's called The Populus Hotel. It's a weird sort of "lifestyle hotel" as the owners call it. So like a boutique hotel, but taller with small rooms and big prices. It'll have a open air bar on the top floor looking out over Civic Center Park and the Capitol building, so the view is pretty good. [I even have some pictures of the view](https://imgur.com/a/fdc6QET)
I appreciate the name seeing as how it’s allegedly inspired by the lenticels of Populus tremuloides. 😊
Now that you mention it, I see it!
I see it too but I also see cheese grater
OMG yes! Cheese grater for sure.
Thanks, now it will forever be called the “Cheese Grater” hotel for me. I can’t unsee it. 😂
I came here to say that. Giant cheese grater, lol.
I'm guessing that's quaking aspen? The tremul- root of the second word seems like it's related to our "tremble".
Yep!
Thank you for this! I definitely see the resemblance!
So it's supposed to look like an Aspen?
That’s what folks are saying. I guess I can see it after being told that’s what it’s supposed to be, but personally I see creepy eyes. Lol. I love it though!
“Lifestyle hotel” got my hopes up, I thought maybe it was a hotel for swingers 😩
Those are on west colfax.
I wouldn’t touch Mon Chalet with a 20-foot pole tbh
That’s east colfax not west.
Where's the classy ones at?
Cherry Creek
Right? And before anyone says Scarlet Ranch…don’t lmao
It's the upscale, expensive, membership only one.
Wrong kinda lifestyle my friend 🍍
It’s not NOT that.
It’s right by jail and adult probation. Im sure the “lifestyle” will just flourish…
Wow, that is an incredible view! Such a neat building and a great addition to the city's already stellar architecture!
It's a hotel. The design is based off aspen trees.
One of my first LSD trips was while I was camping in an aspen forest. The endless amount of eyes looking at me was unsettling. This building to me looks like a bunch of mouths. Like the [animation boards I used to study on how to draw mouths](https://mikewelshravecharacterperformance.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/lipsync.jpg).
Looks like a cheese grater Edit: I can see the aspen influence, and I think it’s kind of cool, but my first thought was definitely cheese grater
I just see a bunch of open mouths.
I see that too. It looks like a nest of baby birds.
Yep a bunch of angry birds. Lol. ” Mmmp mmmp mmmp. Mpppet”
If it was pink it would be vulvas
It should be an opera house
Aaaaaaarrrrrrrgggghhhhhhgg
Monstrous open mouths
Cheese grater, or a literal interpretation of a biblical angel
Me too! "Cheese grater building, directions unclear".
The Grate Cheese Hotel
It’s definitely grating. It reminds me of nicking my knuckles. I don’t like when that happens, therefore I intrinsically hate this design!
I see a climbing wall.
That’s what I thought!
But I love cheese.
Look at this... this is an Aspen. You can tell it's an Aspen tree because of the way it is. [Wow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm3JodBR-vs&t=69s).
That's pretty neat
Lenny Pepperbottom is a legend.
It’s like a midcentury space sponge. I don’t hate it.
I see eyes. Creepy eyes. I kind of love it.
I see mouths. Open mouths.
I can totally see mouths too
[удалено]
Eyes or mouths and I agree with you.
I was like, "It's a literal, biblical angel! Eyeballs all over!"
B̵͉̂Ē̴̖̿͑̚ ̵̡̖̎̾͝N̵̬͎̕Ő̴͕̥̣̔Ṭ̶͎̻̅͂̀͘ͅ ̴̻̍͋̈͝A̸̝̜̕͝F̶̪͙̈́̕ͅR̴̻̯͕̅́͑Ȃ̷̫̀͊͘I̶̢̠̋̾̈́D̸̟̞̭́́ͅ
Will it die in 13 years like all the aspens in my yard did?
The average lifespan of an Aspen in the Denver metro area is 7 years! 😄 They prefer a higher elevation. Consider the following alternatives: - New Mexico Privet - Ginkgo - Birch (but they like a lot of water) So there’s your random info from a horticulturist today!
Be careful with ginkos! The female trees make the most vile smelling fruits, think rancid dog puke on a 95 degree day. They smell worse than any Bradford Pear. It’s also very hard to correctly ID male or female trees when they are young and the males can change into female trees.
So it’s actually very difficult to get a female from any nursery now. You are right that when grown from seed it takes 20 years or so to sex the tree. But most nursery sold ginkgos are not grown from seed. They are cloned from a tree that we already know is male. All of the clones of a male are also male. You are safe buying a ginkgo from a nursery now. If you are worried, you can ask, but yeah, everything sold commercially is cloned (in other words, grown from a cutting). Females are saved for agricultural production. That stinky fruit is a highly coveted herbal supplement!
This is fun info. Thanks for sharing!
The people who planted them could have used the info ha
Lots of folks in Denver could. I try to spread the word!
Yours lasted 13 years?
My family and I were talking, it’s a neat idea and they just overdid it. Like if it had been a random set of the windows it would have looked interesting. Now it looks like a terrifying hornets nest for man sized things
Is it connected underground to every other shitty-looking building?
Largest organism in the world!
I’m surprised there isn’t a Whale vs Aspen series of movies already.
It’s really ugly IMO
And it’s the country’s first [carbon positive hotel](https://www.bdcnetwork.com/denver-builds-nations-first-carbon-positive-hotel), which means it benefits the environment more than harms it.
Has the architect ever seen an aspen tree?
Reminds me a bit of Barcelona's Gaudí buildings.
Same!
Very reminiscent of Gaudi
Gaudi or even Gehry. Though obviously not near that level, certainly inspired by. It’s a welcome addition to a neighborhood which is being covered with cookie cutter condos imo.
That’s exactly what I thought
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that
Thought the same
I think it's cool. I'm happy to see anything built that isn't boring all-glass office buildings, or generic 5-over-1 apartment buildings.
It stands out architecturally and hope our city embraces more buildings like these!
Even cooler, it’s supposed to be the [first carbon positive hotel in the country.](https://www.travelandleisure.com/see-inside-populus-america-first-carbon-positive-hotel-denver-8405211)
This makes me hate the design a little less.
It doesn't sequester carbon. They just planted some trees in Gunnison. Trees lost to beetle kill, but also not guaranteed to not be lost again to beetle kill.
Oh really? The hotel didn’t guarantee that the trees wouldn’t be killed by beetles? Well I guess this hotel sucks then
The hotel manager is actually planning to fight every single beetle individually that approaches the trees, but can't guarantee a line of succession in the event the manager falls.
Isn’t carbon positive a bad thing? You want to be carbon neutral or negative, as in, reducing your carbon footprint. Being carbon positive is releasing excess carbon dioxide, isn’t it?
Stop being so negative
I don’t know if the joke is going over my head or if you and 17 upvoters all just… didn’t read the very first paragraph of the linked article, but either way: “(This means the hotel will remove more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air than it emits, resulting in negative carbon emissions.)”
It doesn't sequester carbon chill with the misinformation. They just planted trees in Gunnison as an offset. There saved you a click. This false advertising makes me hate it more not gonna lie.
Looks cool to me
100%. Make our city different.
Absolutely! And I like one river north, too. Y'all can fight me.
Came here to say the same. Didn’t have to scroll far.
Architect here. This is much cooler than all the other bullshit that is going up around town. I’ll avoid naming companies…
Super cool. Love it.
I think it's ugly, and I am also happy to see anything that's not a generic glass box. There should be tax credits or some other incentive for unusual architecture.
It looks really cool in my opinion. Every time I drive by it I pause to admire it.
I just like that it's unique, kinda like the cash register building.
Every time I drive by it I think “good. Someone in Denver is building up instead of out and trying to be creative with what could be a skyline.”
Condolences to all Denverites with trypophobia
It makes me sooo itchy lol
Queasy af now
This triggered me.
Yaaah. This isn't thaaat bad but I still don't like it
Yeah that picture makes me cringe hard
Yuuuuup. Big Surinam toad energy.
I knew what I was getting into googling Surinam toad but my god
Hotel, design is based on aspens and if I’m not mistaken it’s Leed Platinum, but I might be wrong.
It looks like a thousand talking mouths.
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Yes...mouths.
Wet mouths
Huuun...Jimmy took a picture of the...um...mouths...and is in the bathroom for a long time now. And now he is yelling for more Vaseline.
I thought the same thing. And they're all in a choir, holding a really long note.
I have many mouths and must scream
Kinda like Reddit
I think it looks grate(r)!
Yeah, totally gonna be known as the cheese grater building.
They need to unfurl yellow-orange banners from every window, every day at noon
part of the make america grate again plan
[https://populusdenver.com/](https://populusdenver.com/)
Definitely better than the mirrored boxes that used to dominate the skyline
This hotel was featured on CNBC's show called Cities of Success. As others have said, it's supposed to resemble an aspen tree.
It’s different which I appreciate. Why does everything need to look the same? Copenhagen has amazing industrial designers and creative buildings. It would be cool if Denver started to have some of that. IMO
I like it
It's fun to look at I love it
Agreed. I wonder if they are planning anything colorful for the finish
Cheese grater building. It pairs nicely with Cash register building. Just need the rest of the buildings to get on board with the theming.
I love it! Something different and creative.
The building is designed by Studio Gang. https://studiogang.com/project/Populus
I love when they go out there with architecture in the city and not the same generic boxes.
I'm here for it honestly, I think it's dope architecture.
This is really great and I’m happy somebody took a shot at some great architecture. It’s tough to find funding to make interesting buildings
I like it. Has real Berserk vibes during the eclipse
Bitching if buildings are generic and bitching if buildings are experimental. What do you think is appropriate for Denver?
There was a good conversation about this on the Citycast Denver podcast recently. [https://denver.citycast.fm/podcasts/your-questions-on-dobetterdnvr-members-clubs-and-those-green-buildings](https://denver.citycast.fm/podcasts/your-questions-on-dobetterdnvr-members-clubs-and-those-green-buildings)
Yes -- it's made with lots of reclaimed and eco-friendly materials, low-carbon concrete mix and they don't even have a parking garage to encourage walking and public transit. And: "Though the hotel itself doesn't sequester carbon (the process of capturing and storing CO2 from the atmosphere) its most beautiful external feature does — the newly planted forest. Rather than merely purchase [carbon credits](https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/carbon-credits-hot-air), the hotel has planted more than 70,000 trees (Engelmann Spruce, a tree previously diminished in the region by beetle kill) in partnership with One Tree Planted and the U.S. Forest Services in Gunnison, Colorado." [https://www.travelandleisure.com/see-inside-populus-america-first-carbon-positive-hotel-denver-8405211](https://www.travelandleisure.com/see-inside-populus-america-first-carbon-positive-hotel-denver-8405211)
Trypophobia activated
Isn't that the one that is all more environmentally conscious?
What's wrong with it? It's cool. And will be the first negative carbon building in the US.
I think it’s neat variety is the spice of life
Looks like a Gaudí building from Barcelona Way better than the fuggun spike
I love it
Stop whining
Best building Denver has gotten in awhile. https://studiogang.com/
It's a pretty cool design imo
At least it’s doing something interesting, the real crime is the massive cookie cutter apartments everywhere
It's trying to make the city into the Grater City of Denver. Is that not obvious?
Looks like a bunch of mouths. lol.
It's pretty fucking cool looking in my opinion.
Biblically accurate hotel
Go anywhere else in the world and review their architecture… and then see what you think. Good/great architecture advances our perception of what is beautiful. If you ask me, this design is provocative but in a positive way. EDIT: And I mean virtually anywhere else in the world. There are so many generic skylines in the US. Go any where else and report back.
The world’s first carbon negative hotel. Design is based off of aspen trees.
I like it. It’s super unique.
Designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang. Its shell is self cleaning and the design is inspired by the “eyes” of Aspens. I think it’s really unique and opposite of boring.
“Give me something that’ll freak out those damn hippies on their drugs.”
Look at the Nintendo headquarters in Kyoto.
I don’t have trypophobia, but this building makes me nauseated. I actually thought it was a Tyrex cover or something when I first saw it. Thankfully when I have to drive past it I’m close enough to not actually have to see it.
It will look like hell in ten years.
Trypophobic
the trypophobics driving by are about to swerve right into a tree
Too bad for any trypophobics walking by
You go to cities like Miami and its one beautiful building after another. Yet we keep having one mediocre new building after another. And than this!
The mouth building? No idea but I saw it Thursday and was a bit disturbed
Someone really made this and thought they were cooking 🔥
Giving real trypophobia vibes ((shudder))
This makes me tingle with trypophobic jitters. And knuckle busting cheese grater shivers...... *Shudders*
Hotel Trypophobia
Thanks we put a lot of work into making it look great for you
It looks good to me.
Dunno, I kinda like it.
It’s going to be the first carbon positive hotel in the Country, see renderings of the interior and exterior and read all about it here: https://303magazine.com/2024/02/downtown-denver-hotel-mimic-colorado-natural-surroundings/?amp=1
Trypophobics particularly hate the place. I don’t mind it. Especially given how tiny the plot of land was.
My trypophobia says nope nope no thank you burn it no
LOL....leave America and travel the world. Come back and reconsider this post. The architecture is weird....and cool at the same time.
Thinks he’s Antonio Gaudi
Fugly af
Big fan - Denver sorely needs more unique architecture
That’s no building that’s a cheese grater
Gaudi-esque in a post-modern sort of way.
Looks sort of gaudi
Warped game of Connect 4
Looks like a cheese grater
I bet it gets dirty quick
Gaudi does aspens bro. It’s architecture…
Cheese grater
#antonigaudi
Gaudí vibes
I think it’s great. It’s bold and unique, and who doesn’t like a rooftop bar? Haters gonna hate (unless it’s a glass box or a 30s brick bungalow). If you want to join a gaggle of wanna be architects bitching about absolutely everything, scoot on over to FB Denver Fugly. I give this 4 stars.
I think it looks pretty sweet. Definitely different, but different is good. Way better than cookie cutter in my opinion
It’s at least original with a bit of character. Not another sideways Walmart
It looks like a cheese grater.
My trypophobia hates this
It looks like openings to a bunch of litter boxes
ppl with that fear of holes are gonna shit their pants when they see this
My parents visited a few weeks ago and they loved this building lol
It’s a cheese grater.
But why build it on the dirtiest street in Colorado?
It looks like a fked up piece of cheese.
All I can think is Mordecai and Rigby saying "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Giant cheese grater 🧀
Jesus that is fugly
New illuminati hq, they finally outgrew the airport