Populus

"The team that created the Populus Hotel in downtown Denver, Colorado, isn’t banking on the “sustainable travel” trend for success. Seven years in the making, the already buzzy hotel, with its all-white exterior created to look like an Aspen tree trunk, is promising to be the first carbon-positive hotel in the United States. Through a series of initiatives like composting and tree planting, they promise to offset more carbon than the hotel emits. Yet it isn’t the promise of sustainability they see customers coming for—though that will surely be the case for many visitors—it’s the stunning architecture, decor, and service. According to Jon Buerge, president of Urban Villages, the development company behind the hotel, building with the environment in mind is the responsibility of the business owners first. When people get there, they can learn about all the choices made to create it that way—hopefully taking away information about why it’s so important. The building itself is a 13-floor, triangle-shaped wonder. The scalloped windows and bright white color make it stick out against the nearby Colorado State Capitol building and its surrounding parks. When you walk in the front doors, you’re immediately greeted with an upscale restaurant to your left and a high-end coffee shop to your right. Receptionists sit behind an upcycled giant oak tree desk, excited to tell you all about how your room key fob is actually a hidden wild tree seed that you can plant when you get home." - Alyssa Hardy

"The new Populus Hotel in downtown Denver is billed as the nation’s first carbon-positive hotel, meaning it plans to sequester more carbon than it produces. It’s also a striking new architectural feat with a biophilic design that feels both modern and homey. The white facade of the wedge-shaped building is marked with hundreds of windows in more than 60 rounded shapes meant to mimic the bark of an aspen (known by its scientific name as Populus tremuloides), a tree native to Colorado. The hotel building was created with recycled or low-carbon materials, and it operates with 100 percent wind and solar energy and zero-waste dining. Part of the carbon-positive effort also includes planting tens of thousands of trees across the state every quarter. The arboreal inspiration of the exterior continues inside the hotel—the whole building was designed to feel like climbing a 13-story tree. The lobby, for example, is a re-imagining of a forest floor. The concrete floor is speckled with river pebbles, while the potted plants are the kind that typically provide ground coverage. The front desk is made from a cottonwood tree that fell in the nearby community of Longmont, the walls are decorated with shingles made from pine killed by invasive beetles, and the decorative beams above are reclaimed pieces of snow fencing from Wyoming. Stellar Jay, the rooftop restaurant, by contrast, is based on a tree’s canopy, with wallpaper made of actual leaves, emerald green banquettes, polished wood bistro tables, and views of the city. As a Colorado Springs resident who visits Denver at least once a month for events, I’ve stayed at most of the capital city’s hotels. This is hands down my new favorite, both for overnight stays and for dining, and one of the handful I’ll recommend to visiting friends and family." - Bailey Berg

"Opened in October 2024, Populus bills itself as the first “carbon-positive” hotel in the US. But beyond the effort to offset its emissions through reforestation work in Colorado and the acquisition of carbon credits, the new property in downtown Denver has sustainability strategies woven through every space: from the basement, where a parking lot is notably absent, to the green roof planted with perennials. The LEED Gold–certified building, designed by Studio Gang, was constructed using a low-carbon concrete called ECOPact and is powered by 100% renewable energy. Food waste from the two restaurants is processed in an on-site BioGreen360 biodigester, with the resulting fertilizer delivered to local farms."