
Pickard Chilton, an award-winning architecture studio best known
for its innovative and cutting-edge design of corporate
headquarters and campuses, announced that T3 RiNo, a
groundbreaking six-story mass timber, Class-A, mixed-use office
building at 3500 Blake Street in the heart of Denver’s vibrant
RiNo neighborhood, has won a 2025 Wood in Architecture award
from WoodWorks – Wood Products Council. The award was presented
at a reception alongside the 2025 AIA Conference on Architecture
& Design in Boston on June 5.
WoodWorks, a non-profit known for supporting innovative wood
design, helps developers and design teams use wood successfully
in commercial and multifamily construction. It is also a leading
provider of continuing education to design and building
professionals across the U.S. The Wood in Architecture awards
recognize excellence in mass timber, light-frame wood, and
hybrid building design, celebrating design teams using wood in
innovative ways to positively impact the environment, occupants,
and their communities. Entries were reviewed by a jury of
industry peers and judged on a number of criteria, including
design excellence, innovative use of wood, sustainability and
resilience, and market impact.
T3 RiNo was developed by the collaboration of Hines, McCaffery,
and Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real estate group of CDPQ, and raises
the bar for environmentally conscious and community-oriented
workplace design. The “T3” stands for Timber, Transit, and
Technology, elements woven into the building with thoughtful
timber design, proximity to multiple transit options, and
digital building systems focused on the expectations of today’s
tenants.
“We are thrilled for T3 RiNo to be recognized with a 2025 Wood
in Architecture award from WoodWorks. An overarching team goal
was to maximize and express the exposed wood. As such, the
building’s high-performance, transparent façade was designed to
maximize exposure of the full timber structure from both the
interior and exterior,” said Michael Hensley AIA, a principal at
Pickard Chilton.
Built using Type IV-HT construction, the timber structural
system gives T3 RiNo its signature character. A glulam
post-and-beam frame supports concrete-topped cross-laminated
timber (CLT) panels, engineered to reduce vibration and enhance
acoustic performance. The timber grid provides efficient
structural spans, optimizing wood fiber while adding flexibility
for tenant layouts. Rigorous coordination between the optimized
structure and MEP systems allows the wood expression to shine
through. All timber utilized was sourced from supplier Nordic
Structures and manufactured by Chantiers Chibougamau in Québec,
Canada.
The building offers 239,000 square feet of state-of-the-art
office and 19,000 square feet of retail space designed to foster
creativity, collaboration, and a healthy work-life balance.
Pickard Chilton’s forward-thinking design features numerous open
terraces and a variety of amenity spaces, including
hospitality-driven social areas and a modern fitness and bicycle
facility.
The building’s notable attributes have led to ample tenant
interest; the entirety of the building’s office space, more than
220,000 SF, has been pre-leased by Xcel Energy Colorado, making
it the largest office tenant in the RiNo submarket. Xcel Energy
was attracted by the building’s refined, heavy-timber-structured
design and warm workspaces with exposed wood, open layouts, and
12-foot ceilings. The floor-to-ceiling windows offer panoramic
views of Denver’s natural landmarks, while the outdoor terraces
thoughtfully break down the building’s mass to provide tenants
with multiple private outdoor experiences. Pickard Chilton’s
design coalesces natural light and sculpture, emphasizing
occupants’ connection to nature through both form and
materiality.
T3 RiNo has emerged as a standout in contemporary sustainable
design. Its carbon-negative mass timber structure is 100%
renewable, recyclable, and non-toxic. The building contains
188,000 cubic feet of mass timber, sequesters 4,155 metric tons
of CO2, saving an additional 1,608 metric tons of CO2 and using
38% less embodied carbon than if constructed conventionally.
Construction and manufacturing processes represent a greenhouse
gas reduction equivalent to taking 1,218 cars off the road for
one year. T3 RiNo is LEED-CS Gold, WELL Silver v2-Pilot Core
Office, and Energy Star certified, with WELL Health-Safety
certification pending.
Source:
milehighcre.com