The new Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center conveys the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains from the moment guests walk through the door. Just beyond the reception area, the 90-foot, steel-girder cathedral ceiling of the Grand Lodge and its panoramic glass wall sweep upward and outward, displaying a stunning view of Colorado’s Front Range.
“The big window of the Grand Lodge is the main focal feature,” lead designer Julianne Cary of Looney & Associates said. “The first thing you want to see when you walk in the building is the Rocky Mountains — that’s why you’re in Colorado.”
Located in Aurora, minutes from Denver International Airport, the Gaylord Rockies is the first Gaylord property to open in the last 10 years and the first to be built since Marriott International acquired the Gaylord Hotels brand in 2012.
Gaylord Hotels strives to provide guests with a unique sense of place, and Cary said the design team took care to let Colorado customs, history, artwork, flora and fauna inform every choice. Guests with see this in countless details, from the native animals and red plaid on pillows in the 1,501 guest rooms to a mineshaft-inspired elevator in the lobby and a vein of blue minerals sparkling through the sandstone wall behind the reception area, evoking Colorado’s mining past.
“We positioned the lobby so that when you enter on the second floor, you can walk down into the Grand Lodge, and there’s nothing obstructing your view. Our hope was that you’d get the wow factor when you walk in,” Cary said, “but we also wanted guests to have the hotel experience on the main level, with higher-end finishes and a more residential feeling from living rooms with fireplaces and comfortable lounge seating.”
Throughout the Gaylord Rockies, there’s a juxtaposition of imposing mountain majesty and human-scale, lodge-style coziness. Between two staircases leading into the Grand Lodge, water rushes down a manmade incline of boulder-strewn rapids, under a railroad-inspired truss bridge, and into a placid lake. An authentic red train caboose that once trundled over the BNSF Santa Fe railroad line adds to the alpine-chic ambience, as does a waterfall and a rocky grotto modeled after an actual Colorado cave.
Restaurants ring the Lodge, including Vista Montagne, serving Italian fare; Monte Jade for Asian specialties; the Old Hickory Steakhouse; and Pinyons, a bar with a pinyon pine–topped counter. When it’s time to unwind, guests can head to the Mountain Pass sports bar, with a 75-foot screen facing a phalanx of kickback easy chairs for enjoying game-day action.
Virtually every design choice throughout the hotel and conference center expresses a Rocky Mountain feeling, with wallpaper featuring the silhouettes of pine trees, Colorado maps and snowflake fractal patterns, as well as carpet designs inspired by tree rings and snow drifts. In addition to dozens of fireplaces dotting the property, the Grand Lodge also boasts the largest fireplace in the state of Colorado, warming guests on welcoming, cow-print and embossed-leather seating nearby.
Much of the artwork decking the walls comes from local artists and highlights Rocky Mountain animals, materials and vistas. Various works feature colorful displays of snowshoes, climbing ropes and spurs, and in the fitness center, bicycle seats with handlebar “antlers” hang to evoke the spirit of mounted animal trophies.
“We wanted it to feel warm and welcoming, not cold, with a lodge feel throughout,” Cary said. “The color scheme was drawn from natural materials. When we could use natural stones, we did.”
This includes the antique Spanish gold stone that covers the lobby floor in a thick-slab set and in “columns clad in rustic stone.”
The resort’s expanse encompasses 485,000 square feet of convention space, as well as sparkling indoor and heated outdoor swimming pools, a natural-light bathed fitness center, and the Gaylord signature Relâche Spa.
“The theme of the spa is spring thaw,” Cary explained. “We wanted to capture the moment when the snow starts melting and [the] sun starts coming out and flowers appear.” In the spa reception area, a light fixture reminiscent of icicles glows above a watery blue carpet. Pine boughs and quartz crystal touches recall nature inside the spa.
Whether guests visit the Gaylord Rockies to attend a conference, eat at a restaurant or to acclimate to the altitude before heading up to the high country for skiing, the thoughtful design elements will deliver them a sense of what makes Colorado special and inspire a spirit of Rocky Mountain adventure.
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