Wildman Chalmers Design is a small, highly collaborative architecture and interior design firm in Pittsburgh, PA. Their portfolio includes both renovation and new construction of commercial, residential, and hospitality work.

Wildman Chalmers

Architecture and Interior design | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

"Melding reclaimed woods, textured surfaces, and organic forms, we created an environment that brings the essence of an aspen grove indoors." Wildman Chalmers

Wildman Chalmers in Populus

Our Collaboration

Wildman Chalmers incorporated biophilic elements capturing the essence of the Mountain West. From the forest floor lobby where the Reishi Tapestry casts its warm glow, to light-filled guest rooms with curved window nooks, up to the 13th floor’s vibrant canopy restaurant, each space tells a story of Colorado’s landscape.

Mushroom Tapestry

Level 1 | Pasque

MATERIAL
Mushroom Leather

Reishi Leather (mushrooms) Material - Fine Mycelium by MyCo Works - Phil (founder) began cultivating mycelium as a material for art and design in the 1990s, inspired by the beauty and life cycles of mushrooms. A skilled chef and naturalist, Phil’s field work in mycology began in the woods of upstate New York, where he first learned to forage for wild mushrooms. His subsequent work as a hospice caregiver during the HIV crisis in San Francisco introduced him to the immune-supporting benefits of reishi mushrooms, which he began growing for medicinal use. He discovered a rich diversity in form, texture and color—expressions of reishi’s dynamic response to the everyday forces of light, air, gravity and temperature. Phil soon began working with reishi as a material for creating sculptures, bringing culinary precision and a naturalist’s keen eye to perfect his “biotechniques” for growing living works of art. Phil’s small team began advancing Phil’s bio techniques into technology that would become Fine Mycelium.

Stellar Grove

Level 13 | Stellar Jay Private Dining Room

MATERIAL
Latex Paint and Glaze

Stellar Grove allows the visitor to experience what it might feel like when perched at the top of an Aspen tree. Entangled branches, soft filtered light, leaves dancing on weathered branches, and migratory birds surround you, offering a new perspective as you view through the Aspen eye shaped windows from within the top floor of Populus.

Chef’s Table for Stellar Jay

Level 13 | Stellar Jay

MATERIAL
White Oak

In order to bring people together to enjoy fresh food from local farmers we have created the Chef’s tables. The tables are elevated just enough to gaze out into the city life from above or to peak into the kitchen. The White Oak was sourced in Colorado through Denver Wood Slabs.

Chef’s Table for Pasque

Level 1 | Pasque

MATERIAL
Siberian Elm

In order to bring people together to enjoy fresh food from local farmers we have created the Chef’s tables. The tables are elevated just enough to gaze out into the city life or to peak into the kitchen. Siberian Elm sourced through Urban Forest Mills.

Reception Desk

Level 1 | Reception

MATERIAL
Repurposed Rio Grand Cottonwood Tree

This Rio Grand Cottonwood tree was used for the reception desk and sourced from a local park in Longmont, Colorado after being cut down because it was diseased and dying. By salvaging a tree for the reception desk, we are giving this tree another home and bringing awareness to the importance of repurposing dead trees. The log needed to be planed and then put in the kiln for 42 days to dry. Two hundred and forty-three gallons of water were removed in the kiln drying process and all the water that was removed underwent treatment and returned to the watershed. Any leftover wood shavings from the cutting process went to Hazel Dell Mushroom to use as grow their mushrooms. Wood shavings provide a fantastic environment to grow mycelium. When a tree naturally dies in a forest, it will at some point end up on the forest floor, and as the tree decomposes it feeds a diversity of fungi, insects and microorganisms. Those organisms break down the tree into an organic nutrient-rich soil that benefits the plants around it. This reception desk connects with the story of the forest floor of Populus and to the Mushroom Tapestry in the neighboring room of Pasque.