Platte Fifteen Honored at Downtown Denver Awards

Platte Fifteen, a five-story, 151,736-square-foot office building, is a transformational project for Denver – one that links the original heavy timber brick buildings in the area to contemporary, sustainable architectural solutions. We had a fantastic time celebrating this winning project at the Downtown Denver Awards on Oct. 27.

The building, which is surrounded by historic and revitalized structures at the corner of 15th and Platte Street, serves as a transitional figure between neighborhood and city at the nearby confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. The design concept establishes a new way of thinking about the built environment in Denver, celebrating the power of nature through sustainability and craftsmanship in a modern interpretation of the historic streetscape.

The brick facade is juxtaposed against modern glass; window patterns derived from studies of neighborhood buildings are punched into glazed brick and help enhance the pedestrian scale of the surrounding streetscape. The contemporary glazed element reveals the warm natural charm of the mass timber interior. With retail space on the ground floor, two levels of underground parking, four stories of commercial office and a 4,500 square foot rooftop amenity deck, Platte Fifteen transformed an underutilized site in a high-traffic area, increasing community connection and vitality.

Our team is especially proud of how Platte Fifteen links Denver’s pioneering past with its carbon-friendly future. Platte Fifteen is the first commercial building in Denver to utilize sustainably harvested cross-laminated timber (CLT), which offers the aesthetic appeal of heavy, old growth lumber and the strength of steel at one-fifth the weight of concrete.

We are not only captivated by the inherent beauty of CLT as a high-performing and sustainable solution, we also love that it offers ongoing environmental benefts long after installation. Over the life of the building, the project will store almost 2,000 tons of carbon, and divert 4,200 tons of greenhouse gases, the equivalent to 1,066 cars off the road for a year or the energy needed to operate 474 homes.

At OZ, we believe in the collective sharing of ideas to build a better tomorrow. Our hope is that Platte Fifteen will serve as an example for other developers and a catalyst for more creative approaches to sustainable design.

This project was made possible through partnerships with Crescent Real Estate, KL&A, Adolfson & Peterson, Nordic Structures, 20/20 Engineering, and AE Design. We’re honored to have Platte Fifteen recognized as an award winner alongside so many other inspiring projects at the Downtown Denver Awards this year.