Parts of Common makes room for five Denver communities

Full view of the timber installations on the parking-garage platform, Parts of Common

Office for Roundtable has designed five adaptable installations with community organisations for Denver’s inaugural Community Design Festival. Called Parts of Common, the collection brings gathering spaces, display furniture and places for storytelling into a shared timber framework.

Elevated view along the installations beside the stair, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Installations facing the Denver downtown skyline, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Overhead view of the linear timber framework, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Street-side view of the installation beneath the stairs, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Presented under the theme Common Ground at the Denver Performing Arts Complex in September 2026, the project occupied a parking-garage platform facing the downtown skyline. Its linear arrangement gave the five organisations a collective presence while allowing each installation to respond to a different set of activities.

Overhead view of people using the installations, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

View down the row of installations from the stair, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

A year of working together

The festival was initiated by Leyuan Li of Office for Roundtable and the University of Colorado Denver, in collaboration with the Denver Mayor’s Office. The installations emerged from a year of workshops and reviews involving students, designers and community partners. Li and Danny Wills led the architectural work, developing small structures around the needs and histories of the participating groups.

That process placed practical questions at the centre of the design: where people might sit together, how cultural objects could be displayed, or how a small organisation could host an event. The resulting pieces work at a scale between furniture and architecture, with open frames and movable elements that leave their use visible to passers-by.

Visitor browsing the mobile display stands, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Red-edged canopy within the row of timber structures, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Globe lights above the timber installations, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Five ways to gather

For the Colorado Nepalese Community, the pavilion takes the traditional falcha as its point of departure, providing a place for gathering and exchange. The installation for the Lavender Hill Cultural District uses movable shelves and curtains to accommodate merchandise and cultural artefacts. Its arrangement can shift with the material on display and the activities taking place around it.

Gathering beneath the red-edged pavilion canopy, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Two mobile display stands serve Empower Media Exchange, presenting newspapers and other media from across Colorado. Greater Denver CARES Mentoring Movement, whose work includes youth literacy, receives a structure with a writing table on one side and a display wall on the other. Reading, writing and sharing stories are brought together within a single piece.

Mobile newspaper display stands within the timber framework, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Timber display shelves with orange ratchet straps, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Writing table and display panel in a wheeled timber frame, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Curved display panel in the timber framework, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Visitor at the writing table, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Newspapers displayed on angled timber shelves, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition’s installation consists of stackable benches. These can be used as seats, assembled as shelving for cultural displays, or configured into a small stage. The same components support different relationships between participants and audiences, allowing the organisation to adapt the furniture to each occasion.

Visitors sitting on stackable timber benches, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Stackable seating and shelves beside the installations, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Designed to move on

Wood, ratchet straps and metal joints form a shared assembly system across the collection. The components are designed to come apart and be reassembled, giving the installations a life beyond their first setting. Rather than fixing each piece permanently to the festival site, the construction allows the organisations to adjust it to other spaces.

Crowds attending the community design festival, Parts of Common — The Unfound Door

Visitors exploring the installations, Parts of Common — The Unfound Door

Globe light and timber post detail, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Timber post and metal bracket detail, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

Metal joints and timber connections, Parts of Common — Mickkail Cain

The festival paired the installations with community-led performances, discussions and workshops. Their intended next step is relocation to the partner organisations’ neighbourhoods, where they can support pop-ups, fairs and other gatherings. This continuation is built into the brief: the temporary display provides an initial meeting place, while the structures are conceived as resources that the communities can keep using.

Overhead view of visitors around the pavilion, Parts of Common — Esra Hima

Parts of Common approaches public space through these modest, practical provisions. A writing surface, a shelf or a group of benches gives each partner something tangible to work with. Brought together for the festival, they offer a shared setting for distinct stories without requiring every community to occupy it in the same way.

Project Credits

Project: Parts of Common: Denver Community Design Festival
Location: Denver Performing Arts Complex, Denver, Colorado, United States
Year: 2026
Design: Office for Roundtable / @office.roundtable
Collaborators: Denver Mayor’s Office of Community Outreach, Denver Architecture Foundation, Colorado Nepalese Community, Greater Denver CARES Mentoring Movement, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Empower Media Exchange, Lavender Hill Cultural District
Academic partner: University of Colorado Denver
Photography: Mickkail Cain, The Unfound Door, Esra Hima
Festival: Common Ground, 24–30 September 2026

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