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Architect behind iconic Denver airport terminal: ‘You’ve taken your front door and you trashed it’

Jim Bradburn is sad to learn about renovation woes

Construction workers work inside the Great Hall at DIA  on August 13, 2019 in Denver. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Construction workers work inside the Great Hall at DIA on August 13, 2019 in Denver. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
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DENVER — The man behind the white-tented top of the Denver International Airport’s iconic terminal says the city’s front door is being trashed.

“You’re being welcomed by confusion, by chaos, by dust, by dirt, by construction, by corridors that take you to wherever you need to go and all that sort of stuff. It’s not a very friendly experience at all,” said Jim Bradburn, a retired architect with 41 years of experience.

Bradburn said the chance to work on the airport was a once-in-a-lifetime project that he is still very proud of today. That’s why he said he was so sad to learn about problems plaguing a current project to renovate the terminal’s Great Hall.

When Denver7 called up Bradburn to get his take on the situation, he invited this reporter to meet him at his house. He’s enjoying retirement and views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Cotopaxi, Colo., where he admits he doesn’t catch much of the news out of Denver.

He was surprised to find out the airport terminated the contract with the Great Hall Partners . He traveled through the airport in the spring and noticed construction was underway.

Read the full story at thedenverchannel.com.