Permanent Installation at One River North — Denver, CO

Kala was commissioned by Sweeney Art Advisors to create a permanent ceramic tile installation for One River North, a landmark residential building in Denver designed by Beijing-based MAD Architects and Denver's Davis Partnership.

The work references satellite imagery of the March 13–14, 2021 blizzard — among the four largest storms on record in Denver since 1882, which dropped 27.1 inches of snow across the four corners. By translating digital weather imagery into ceramic, Kala created a permanent fossil record of the event — a homage to the phenomena and power of the natural world.

The undulating tile surface and grid formation reference a navigation map, drawing the viewer into the work and speaking to our collective experience of extreme weather and climate change. Glaze is poured in three layers guided by hand-drawn lines, creating fluid transparency. Fired to cone 5 at 2200°F, the high heat distorts the image and produces psychedelic glaze effects.

The installation is permanently sited in a high-traffic common area of One River North — a 16-story building defined by a 10-story landscaped canyon carved into its façade, with a waterfall between floors 6 and 8 and native vegetation woven throughout.