Hotel Polaris

Where Art Takes Flight

Set at the foot of Colorado’s Front Range beneath 14,115-foot Pikes Peak, Hotel Polaris occupies a setting shaped by both natural grandeur and an extraordinary design legacy. Located just outside the North Gate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, the 375+ room resort draws inspiration from the surrounding Rocky Mountains and the Academy’s history of aviation and internationally recognized architecture. For KBAA, our opportunity was to create an art program that connected these distinct influences, honoring the history of the site while giving guests a contemporary way to experience its story.

Working alongside BLUR Workshop from the early stages of this ground-up development allowed art and interior design to evolve together. The resulting collection spans guest rooms and suites, the Presidential Suite, lobby and pre-function spaces, restaurant, spa, and boardroom. Photography, original paintings, sculpture, and handmade textiles by local and regional artists are paired with historical imagery from the archives. Together, these works create a dialogue between past and present that feels rooted in the landscape and at home within the hotel’s modern architectural language.

The surrounding environment became a natural lens for the collection. In the spa, Kerry Vesper’s sculpted wood-ribbon “Flow” and Caralarga’s handmade textile “Rock Formation” translate the geology of the Front Range through organic materials, texture, and form. In the lobby, Robert Delaney’s custom suspended “Red Calvera” introduces a sense of lift and movement, while Tara Kelley-Cruz’s works capture the shifting color and atmosphere of the Colorado landscape. These references are rarely literal. Instead elemental expression is shown throughout the program in ways that evoke the experience of the landscape itself.

A particularly meaningful part of the program came through KBAA’s collaboration with photographer and U.S. Air Force Academy alumn Christopher Vasquez. Rather than sourcing aviation imagery from outside the region, the team worked directly with Vasquez and the archives to tell the story of the Academy from an authentic point of view. Historical imagery appears alongside these newly commissioned photographs, allowing the story of the site to unfold through both memory and a contemporary perspective.

Throughout Hotel Polaris, art creates a bridge between the landscape, aviation, architecture, and the people who have shaped this remarkable place. The result is an art program grounded in Colorado yet always looking upward, reflecting a place where history and landscape meet a continuing spirit of exploration. Explore more of the story along with a Q&A with BLUR workshop in the Elemental Expression issue of ELEVATE by KBAA.