Return to Form is a residential apartment building that is bringing tall timber to the Colorado skyline. The 14-story, 135,000-square-foot building transforms an urban-infill parcel into high-density urban living in the River North Art District, a neighborhood well-known for its historic architecture with many historic timber and brick buildings. The 12-story mass timber structure sits atop a 2-story concrete parking podium, and for Katz Development, mass timber is the driving design element. The team collaborated closely to create unit plans designed with structure in mind – facilitating an optimal timber grid.

The City of Denver was one the first to adopt the new IBC 2024 code provision G147-21, supporting an increase in the allowable area of exposed mass timber ceilings from 20% to 100% in buildings up to 12-stories in height. With this code change, the building can showcase the full extent of the timber structure without any variance request, providing a road map for the rest of the country on building tall timber structures within the limits of the code. At the time of its completion, Return to Form will be the second tallest mass timber structure in the United States.