Arch 11 architecture firm rides new Denver restaurant wave

Award-winning architecture firm Arch11 is riding what appears to be the new restaurant tsunami in the Denver/Boulder area with four recently completed projects and six new ones on tap.

The Colorado architecture firm is currently in high demand for its stylish approach to new-American dining experience.  The firm’s restaurant design portfolio includes Denver and Boulder standards like Jax, Lola, and the Bitter Bar.

Most recently, Arch11 has set the stage for Boulder’s award-winning Oak at Fourteenth. The open kitchen design at Oak highlights the growing trend toward experiential dining where customers can see their food prepared. “More and more, you see how your food is put together, which impacts finish selections and kitchen efficiencies,” says Arch11 principal and founder E.J. Meade.

The firm’s design for Fate Brewing Company in Boulder successfully re-purposes an industrial space to fit the spirit of a boutique batch brewing outfit and restaurant. Meade notes that Fate is a large restaurant as trends go. “There is a lot of activity with young restaurateurs to move into smaller and tighter spaces, providing more intimate dining experiences and reducing initial start-up costs,” Meade said. “At 7,000 square feet, Fate bucks that trend.”

For Ignite! – in Denver’s Ballpark Neighborhood – Arch11 re-imagined a historic pawn shop to create a modern urban gastro-pub with a rooftop bar and open street seating. “The building is in a historic district, and we basically rebuilt the entire inside of it while maintaining its 19^th century charm,” said Arch11 partner, Ken Andrews, the project architect.

Humboldt Farm Fish Wine in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood is Arch11’s newest restaurant design, inhabiting the space formerly occupied by the city’s beloved Strings restaurant.  The menu features northern California-inspired seafood cuisine with a nod to the burgeoning farm-to-table concept. Arch11’s interiors match the restaurant’s fresh approach with an open kitchen, warm dark woods, exposed steel and cozy, brightly upholstered seating areas.

Additional new restaurant projects coming from Arch11 will span the culinary globe, including a restaurant featuring low-country Southern fare near Coors Field and a Nuevo Mexican taco bar. In between these cultured concepts are plans for a juice bar to complement the micro-juice trend and another gastro pub, among others.

Oak at Fourteenth, above, and Ignite, below, are two of restaurant designs developed by Arch 11 Architectural firm. (Arch11.com photos)