It's fairly safe to assume that flour-milling and interior design have very little in common. Why would they, after all? Flour-milling by definition is industrial, utilitarian, sober in its office design and predictably conventional in its corporate culture. But Denver’s Ardent Mills is anything but conventional.

Debuting on Denver’s expanding cultural red carpet and filling a long-missing link in the city’s urban fabric, Toronto-based First Gulf’s new office development 1401 Lawrence is poised to usher in the next generation of skyline-defining towers.

While every prospective student has his own criteria for choosing a college, campus appearance influences the decision between 62 and 80 percent of prospective students.

From the outside, the notion of real estate development is generally seen as a straightforward equation of risk and reward. Those willing to assume the largest of risks lead the line for the greatest rewards and behind them builders, architects, engineers, subcontractors, material suppliers and myriad others eagerly cue up in a revenue chain led by the daring few who see prosperous potential on every corner.

Denver architect Jeffrey Sheppard is passionate about architecture. His eye for thoughtful design is matched only by his enduring drive to understand and maximize the human response to the built environment, while elevating the quality of design in the world around us.

The Honorable Federico F. Peña, Denver mayor from 1983 to 1991 and Secretary of the Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation in the Clinton Administration, offers a unique perspective on the evolution of Denver.

Because every building’s form is ultimately defined by a structure that is integral and essential to the success of the design, tapping structural engineering expertise at the onset of the design process seems like a wise strategy.

The 88-year-old former bindery at 2901 Blake St. recently has been transformed into a new kind of bindery. Today’s edition joins two distinct buildings, a handful of vibrant businesses, and bonds arts and commerce. An example of adaptive reuse at its best, it also provides nourishment – in this case, both economic and culinary – to the neighboring community.

Colorado is already known for its microbreweries, but this summer, Breckenridge Brewery introduced its destination brewery. The $35 million new campus that sits along the South Platte River already is attracting locals and out-of-towners alike. Breckenridge experienced a lot of growth in the last few years, with demand exceeding supply. The 12-acre campus consists of three buildings and provides the much-needed space for Colorado’s fifth largest brewer:

Denver architect Brad Tomecek, AIA, LEED BC+D, rethinks the art of building with every project. His zest for alternative technologies has created striking spaces and helped earn his firm a 2015 Honor Award for Innovative Practice from AIA Colorado.