At the Designer's Table
Now in its third generation of leadership, the firm is renowned for its K-12 and Civic/Institutional design, along with its ability to mentor young architects. By Emma Penrod
Terance White knew he wanted to be an architect even before he talked one of his teachers into allowing a freshman into an upper-grade drafting class. With college, however, he found himself momentarily lost. He knew he wanted to get into the Master of Architecture program at the University of Utah (U of U), but Brigham Young University discontinued the undergraduate degree he planned to pursue, and changing his major to civil engineering didn’t fit.
“I didn’t quite know what to do,” White said. “I was still thinking I had to get a bachelor’s degree in some other discipline before I could go to the [University of Utah], so I just stopped school and regrouped.”
While investigating other options, White heard from a neighbor that Naylor Wentworth Lund (NWL) Architects wanted to hire a student to train up in the industry. During the interview with Ross Wentworth, a Principal for more than 30 years with the firm, White learned that the U had recently started offering an undergraduate degree for prospective architects.
“It’s just like this whole new path opened up before my eyes,” White, now a Principal at the firm, said of the interview with Wentworth. White accepted the position with NWL Architects in March 1994 and enrolled at the U of U later in August.
If White sensed that NWL intended to foster his career from the very beginning, it wasn’t an accident. Perhaps best known for their contributions to K-12 facilities throughout the state, the architects at NWL don’t just build schools for the next generations: they’ve also actively worked to foster young design talent throughout the firm’s 70 years in the business.
“Architects can be notoriously selfish in their work and what they want their work to be,” said Wentworth, who retired at the beginning of 2022. “And often you will have senior principals in firms who will want to always put their stamp on every project the firm does, and we have always been much more open. […] We really share that responsibility and allow young project managers to step up and do the work, and I think we have been successful doing that.”
That principle has been on full display, with NWL having increased its number of employees to 65, up significantly the past five years. Its annual revenues the past four years have also been impressive—$11.2 million in 2018, $15.1 million in 2019, $18.9 million in 2020, and $14.9 million last year. K-12 and Civil/Institutional markets account for over 90% of its revenues, illustrating its vast expertise and client respect in those markets.
Focus on Youth
What is now known as Naylor Wentworth Lund Architects was originally founded by Roy Silver as Roy Richards Silver Architects in 1952. But the modern-day iteration of the firm came together in 1990, when then-principal Kenneth Naylor, who had joined the firm in the 70s, approached Ross Wentworth with a proposal to expand and pursue dreams beyond the small, predominantly commercial projects they had access to at the time.
Wentworth had longed to lead his own architecture firm since his undergraduate years. After college, he took a drafting position with an electrical engineering company and then worked his way into a now-closed architecture firm in Salt Lake City. That firm was so well-stocked with architectural talent, however, that Wentworth saw little opportunity to advance his career with the company. He left architecture to accept a job as Director of School Facilities at Granite School District.
Wentworth met Naylor about five years later, hiring him to oversee a couple of small projects for the district. Silver had recently retired, and Naylor was looking for a new partner. Naylor, however, didn’t want just any partner—he had his eyes on a proposed high school in Washington County, and he wanted to bring someone into the firm with the experience and connections in education to make that project happen.
“Leaving a school district job, one of those you can call somewhat secure with benefits and steady pay and an owner that isn’t going to have a hard time meeting payroll,” might be a risky move, Wentworth said. “But when you’re young and maybe a little foolish, you’re willing to give that up and give private practice a try. Ken [Naylor] had a staff of maybe eight at the time, and he convinced me we could build a firm and be successful, and convinced me my school connections would help.”
The gamble quickly paid off for both parties. With Wentworth’s experience and Naylor’s charisma, the firm was able to secure work for Davis and Washington School Districts—including the Snow Canyon High School project Naylor originally targeted—almost immediately. That brought their next challenge: with far too few architects to complete their new commissions, the firm needed to expand rapidly.
Informed by his own early experience in the industry, Wentworth wanted to try a different approach to recruiting staff. He convinced Naylor of the need to hire licensed architects but, to more readily attract talent, agreed to focus on students and recent graduates who were on a path to licensure. They would offer flexible hours, competitive pay, full benefits—and the opportunity to lead the design of projects almost immediately.
“There was never a strong design ego with the firm, where there’s often a singular personality who is in charge of the design and you don’t get a say in that until 30 years later,” said Chris Lund, current President of NWL. “That ability to let younger people roll up their sleeves […] is something we’re trying to do still.”
Staying Ahead of the Curve
Snow Canyon High School put Naylor Wentworth’s innovative muscle to the test straight out the gate. Naylor, Wentworth recalled, had already completed a small elementary school for the Washington School District using tilt-up concrete to keep costs in check, and the school board wanted him to do it again—this time on a major high school.
“The thought of doing a big tilt-up concrete high school scared me to death,” Wentworth said, “but Ken was convinced we could do it.”
The firm didn’t want to settle for standard gray panels, so it began experimenting with colored adders to get the concrete to match the red rocks that surrounded the St. George school, according to NWL Vice President Philip Wentworth (Ross’s nephew), who joined the firm in 1998. Their hard work paid off, and the technique became a staple of additional school projects in the area.
NWL also helped to pioneer the use of geothermal heating and cooling in southern Utah, Philip Wentworth said.
“We were ahead of our time and provided cost-effective buildings with low maintenance and utility costs,” said Philip. That type of innovation grew the company’s profile and made it popular with an increasingly large number of clients in the education sector.
But even as business boomed, management at NWL continued to take a careful, deliberate approach to recruitment—trying to ensure everyone they brought into the company could have a seat at the design table, and stay with the firm for as long as possible. The company wanted to avoid becoming trapped in a cycle of hiring for a project and then laying off staff when the work was complete, according to Vice President Eric Madsen.
NWL, Madsen said, continued to pursue educational and institutional clients for the same reason—they were stable industries, and clients tended to stick around long-term. “We’ve been able to ride through recessions not free of problems, but we certainly manage it better than a lot of firms because of the clients we’ve fostered,” he said.
Positive change would find the firm as Lund took the helm, though it came about quite unexpectedly. NWL had maintained a contract with the federal government (GSA) to complete various small projects as needed, which led to an opportunity to update and refinish some courtrooms in the historic Frank E. Moss Courthouse in Salt Lake City. In 2003, when a fire destroyed the Latter-Day Saint Temple in Apia, Samoa, it was this experience working with elegant historical finishes from the courthouse that helped NWL land its first contract with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Wentworth said.
A new chapter for the firm began after completing the Samoan temple. For Lund, whose love for architecture began while growing up abroad in Portugal and Mexico, working for the Church opened up opportunities to work in places he knew growing up. But taking on international projects also played to another of the firm’s strengths, according to Principal Travis Naisbitt.
Because of the firm’s slow-growth philosophy, NWL partnered with outside firms to complete projects that required more manpower than NWL had on staff, Naisbitt said. Working on international projects for the Church—especially during Covid-19—required a similar approach that saw NWL partnering with designers located in the country receiving a new temple.
“Looking back on a roughly 30-year career, I never would have imagined working in countries around the world,” Lund said. “Continuing that is a legacy I’d like to make happen.”
But while maintaining the firm’s current client list remains a priority, Lund said, current company leadership is also looking to diversify their services in the future. NWL wants to capitalize on Utah’s expanding higher education, industrial, and manufacturing sectors—a sign, Wentworth said, that the company is in good hands.

“If I were there I might want to hunker down and stay in the world we know,” he said. “But that’s the old man mentality. We need the energy of youth to keep pushing us forward.”
When Lehi-based Reef Capital Partners (Reef) initially announced plans in 2018 to build a sprawling, estimated $2 billion mega-resort with a championship-caliber golf course on 600 acres covering parts of Ivins and Santa Clara—small towns with just over 15,000 combined residents at the time—it was difficult to fathom what a project of that magnitude might look like. Fast forward seven years, and Black Desert Resort is indeed a shining oasis amidst Southern Utah's famed red rock cliffs, sitting atop an ancient lava field, with buildings strategically carved into the land to produce a resort unlike anything else. "This is the biggest project we've ever done—we feel really good where we are," said Brett Boren, President of Real Estate for Reef, acknowledging the general completion of the $290 million, 806,000-SF resort center, along with significant ongoing work—including a 1,298-stall parking garage, condominiums, and a private water park. As of September, all aspects of the main resort center were open and fully complete, with the hotel celebrating its first official year in business after partially opening in September 2024 as it hosted the inaugural PGA Black Desert Championship October 10-13. The second installment of the tournament—now dubbed the Bank of Utah Championship—is slated for October 23-26, with a third tournament signed for 2026.
In 2005, Calder Richards Consulting Engineers formed after the merger of two smaller structural consulting firms who, interestingly enough, both started in 1986. Calder Richards has provided a steady structural support for Utah’s built environment ever since. As the firm celebrates its 20th anniversary, UC+D spoke with Managing Principals Shaun Packer and Nolan Balls to look back over the company’s history and celebrate what has helped their firm stand out to deliver solid projects in Utah and beyond. Their responses were edited for clarity and brevity. UC+D: What have been some catalytic moments for Calder Richards since that initial merger? SP: Winning the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona is the first one. The big reason for the merger between Richards Consulting Group and Calder Consulting was to build a large enough company to go after bigger projects like that.” NB: That was my first project when I was hired straight out of college. We helped design the 17-story hotel and casino, a conference center, as well as parking structures, a central mechanical building, and a pool building. Talking Stick helped get us through the downturn a few years later. UC+D: What have been your key market sectors you all have targeted over the last 20 years? NB: We were breaking into K-12 along the Wasatch Front soon after the Talking Stick Resort and it’s been our bread and butter since then. SP: Absolutely, but I credit our firm for always adapting to the current environment. We’ve been fortunate to do so much K-12, but we used to do a lot of office work, and now we are working on conversions like the Ebay Headquarters to CTE/Innovation Center for Canyons School District as the market has shifted away from commercial office. UC+D: Schools have certainly evolved over the last 20 years, how has your work as structural engineers evolved? SP: We are seeing more creative design on the architectural side, certainly. We see many more two-story designs; more windows and daylighting. But we’re utilizing more powerful tools and continually building our understanding of the structural materials that are in use more than ever—tilt-up concrete, steel columns and beams, especially—to be the architect’s trusted partner. NB: Schools have definitely changed, and we’ve had better experience in helping projects move forward successfully when we are involved earlier in the design process. As we got involved early on in West High School’s schematic design, we were able to provide structural solutions and options to accommodate the architects’ design intent. UC+D: How has company growth changed Calder Richards? SP: It’s certainly changed the number of people in our office. We started with around 10 people when we merged, and today we have 27. But we often say that we don’t want to grow just to grow—we want to grow sustainably. We don’t lay people off when works slows down, and we have an expectation that sometimes there will be overtime work, and other times you may be waiting for our next project to begin.
Nested in the middle of the University of Utah (U of U) campus sits the aptly-named Impact & Prosperity Epicenter, the second living learning community (LLC) project designed on campus by Los Angeles-based Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign. After nearly a decade since their first LLC project, the award-winning Lassonde Studios (UC+D’s 2016 Most Outstanding Public Building over $10 million), Mehrdad Yazdani, the design firm’s Principal and Studio Director, said their work on a sequel was an exciting prospect for the firm, and enlisted Salt Lake-based MHTN Architects and Okland Construction to serve as the respective local architect and general contractor. Today, the Epicenter serves as a striking piece of architecture and construction, one whose curvilinear shape asks users and visitors plenty of questions. But moving from idea to execution has been a work in progress. One query from Yazdani stood out as it relates to students and the built environment, and helped begin the journey to create the Epicenter: “How does your living environment as a student impact your success as a student and as a changemaker?” A Project for an Evolving Campus Katie Macc, CEO of the Sorenson Impact Institute, said LLCs like the Epicenter and Lassonde Studios next door have been massive steps forward in advancing entrepreneurship and social impact. But both play a major role in creating “college town magic”—a phrase coined by University President Taylor Randall that invokes a vibrant campus where students can find community and have one-of-a-kind experiences. With more on-campus student housing in the works, the state’s flagship university is hoping to shed the “commuter school” label and deliver a level of desirability that matches the resources students commit to higher education. “There is some soul searching going on across university campuses,” said Macc of the challenge at hand. “We have to be convincing that going to college matters.” She said overall university enrollments across the nation are decreasing as students grapple with tuition costs, COVID and its isolating aftershocks, and a different perspective on higher education. Universities are no longer a place where students come to learn what they couldn’t learn elsewhere—remote learning and the internet have opened a fissure in that idea that will never close. Instead of that educational transaction, being at a university must include building community and creating in-person experiences only available on campus. Macc said that the Epicenter helps steer the campus experience toward the future, with design goals to create a base of operations for two changemaking organizations and a living and learning home for 778 students. The three-story commercial portion of the building, known as the “Changemaker Pavilion”, includes office space for The Center for Business, Health, and Prosperity (second floor) and the Sorenson Impact Institute (third floor). While each organization has a different focus, both are firmly invested in helping students access and create the resources needed to change the world. Each entity works hand-in-hand as owners of the Epicenter to host events and “create a full spectrum of ways for students to get involved,” said Chad Salvadore, Chief Financial Officer for the Sorenson Impact Institute. “We’re dialing in the programming to energize the student body,” said Salvadore of the work done at the Epicenter. With over 60 majors represented among the 778 students who live there, he said that the diversity of students is less a reflection of their chosen major and more a desire to reside in a space built for students to work their entrepreneurial muscles. “Living here is a mindset—you can engage across many different paths you choose.”
Front view of the bleachers, press box, and suites. (photos courtesy SIRQ Construction)
Over the course of its 40-year history in Utah, WSP's Salt Lake office—originally founded as Parsons Brinckerhoff in 1985—has morphed from primarily a transportation design firm to one that successfully operates in multiple civil engineering markets. The results of WSP's transformation the past decade into a more diverse outfit speak for themselves, with the 128-person Salt Lake office (with locations in Cottonwood Heights and South Jordan) posting three consecutive years of revenues over $50 million, including a record $70.1 million in 2023, and a robust $59.9 million in 2024—good for the No. 2 ranking in UC+D's 2025 Top Utah Engineering Firms rankings.
Lucio Gallegos vividly remembers the workforce development meetings he attended during his time at Ogden-Weber Tech. These career and technical education (CTE) discussions consistently focused on one thing: young people were not entering construction, and the industry needed a new approach to attract them. Gallegos recalled one member of the workforce development team, a training director with a prominent general contractor, saying, “We have been trying this for over 10 years, screw it, we’re just gonna hire them.” The Long Road Those conversations occurred nearly 10 years ago, and workforce development concerns continue to permeate the industry. The National Center for Construction Education & Research estimates that 41% of the construction workforce will retire by 2031, leading to potential gaps in skill and safety and decreases in productivity and project quality. While stakeholders have aligned on the overall goal of providing students a foundation for future success through career development, the means to achieve the ends were seemingly at odds. High schools, trade schools, colleges, and private industry took different paths to achieve their goals, with some moving in opposite directions. “I’m gonna be honest with you,” Gallegos recalled one school administrator saying, “If I promote what you’re telling me to get them over to the tech college, I lose head count. And then I lose teachers. I can’t have a school without teachers.” Jobs that took away student learning experiences, according to federal guidelines and child labor laws, made the idea a non-starter. However, after years of lobbying the Utah Legislature for a compromise between industry and education, H.B. 055, passed in 2023, provided a catalytic change in how younger people can engage with construction and other industries. High school students could participate if they were involved in a school-sponsored work experience and career exploration program. Private industry finally had the compromise it wanted. It was time to act. Big-D Charts New Path Gallegos, now the Workforce Development Manager from Big-D, joined the company in 2023 with the express purpose of creating a program that fit within the new guidelines. Gallegos said he sees career development through the lens of the immigrant experience, one he knows personally as a Mexican immigrant with a father who worked in commercial construction. “I was 9 years old and busting pins out of concrete forms with a hammer that was as big as I was,” he laughed. “I’ve got the cliché immigrant story.” That story has a theme familiar to many immigrant families, he said, one where parents say, “I want my kids not to have to work as hard as I do. I want them in school.” Add to that, it’s a law—children must attend school. Gallegos was unfazed by those obstacles. As he began planning how Big-D’s internship program would operate, he knew that engagement had to start at the elementary school level and build on personal relationships between private industry, school administrators, students, and their families to succeed. “We want to be the solution, not the obstacle to get into this industry,” said Gallegos. So Big-D removed the barriers. Students can still attend school, work towards graduation, and be available in the afternoon for sports, extracurricular activities, and the high school experience. But working was another significant part of the immigrant experience, Gallegos said, and internships needed to be paid to alleviate the family concerns. “We asked what we would pay somebody fresh out of high school who worked at Big-D,” Gallegos said. Interns have earned those same wages ever since.
On January 2, 1957, Gene Fullmer, a scrappy, underdog fighter from West Jordan stunned the boxing world with a 15-round unanimous decision over the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson at New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden. Fullmer captured the world middleweight championship and established himself as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers during the late 50s and early 60s. Since then, the Fullmer name has been synonymous with boxing in Utah, with brothers Gene, Jay, and Don establishing the Fullmer Brothers Boxing Gym in 1978, and offering free boxing instruction and life mentoring to thousands of youths—carrying on a tradition they learned from their trainer, Marv Jenson. Their legacy of community giving will live on in the new Fullmer Legacy Center in South Jordan, a 16,500-SF facility that will serve as a permanent home to the boxing gym—after years of bouncing around to various temporary facilities—along with a museum, snack bar, and gift shop. “The Fullmers are the first family of boxing in the state of Utah—that’s well understood,” said Dave Butterfield, a founding board member of the Fullmer Legacy Foundation. Butterfield served as Chairman of the Board from June 2016 to early 2025 and was influential in helping raise money—nearly $6 million via donations to date, which includes $2 million from the Utah Legislature. Project Driven by Vision to Find a Permanent Home for Fullmer Brothers Gym It was Jay Fullmer who led the charge to teach boxing in the community. By 1978, the Fullmer Brothers Boxing Gym had formally opened at the Butterfield farm chicken coop in South Jordan, recalled Larry Fullmer, Don’s oldest son and the man who spearheaded the efforts for the Fullmer Legacy Center. From there, Larry said the facility moved to Riverton Elementary, an old church house in West Jordan, a sugar factory, a former fire station, and the Salt Lake County Equestrian Park in South Jordan, where it had resided since 2011. When they got word that Salt Lake County planned to transfer ownership of the park to Utah State University, Fullmer knew they needed to find a long-term home for the boxing gym. Fullmer met with Butterfield and Robert Behunin—who at the time was a Vice President with Utah State University—in 2016 and told them he just wanted a “tin shed of our own” for boxing. Behunin countered by saying, “If you want people to donate money, you need something better than a tin shed!” They quickly formed the Fullmer Legacy Foundation (FLF), and by 2018, the wheels were in motion on a building. Doc Murdock, a long-time trainer at the gym, connected Larry with his former roommate at Brigham Young University, Vern Latham, who is a Principal at Salt Lake-based VCBO Architecture. VCBO offered pro-bono services initially while helping FLF put together an RFP, while North Salt-based Gramoll Construction provided value engineering and other services in an effort to get the project launched. Larry expressed sheer gratitude for the contributions of both firms in helping make the project a reality, especially for many generous donations from various foundations and individuals. “[VCBO] believed in us early on and did our first phase of planning at no charge—they have been amazing and so professional to work with,” said Larry. “Gramoll helped us get the budget done as tight as it could be. This project had the absolute tightest budget. We met weekly with architects and the general contractor to see the progress—I’ve never seen such an amazing process. Construction started in November ’23, and every time I would come to the jobsite in the first six months, I’d get emotional.” “We leaned on our relationships with contractors for flooring, ceiling, tiles, donated furniture and got deep discounts and a lot of in-kind donations,” said Phil Haderlie, Principal-in-Charge for VCBO. “To me, the story of this project is the grassroots effort of people seeing the value—this is something that came from their heart. It will have a long-lasting impact on the community.”
The first season is in the books for the Salt Lake Bees in its spectacular new home—the Ballpark at America First Square, the exciting new heart of Downtown Daybreak and certainly one of the premier Triple-A stadiums in the country. "It's a really cool stadium—the field looks so good!" gushed Eric Barton, Project Director for Salt Lake-based Okland Construction, while surveying the spacious 280,000 SF, 6,500-seat (8,000 capacity) ballpark. Barton said his team faced an extremely difficult construction schedule with the mandate the project had to be sufficiently ready for Opening Day 2025 on April 8, less than 18 months after the formal October 20, 2023, groundbreaking. Barton said Okland knew it was going to be a grind, with long hours and tight windows to get various milestones accomplished. "When we bid this to our trade partners, we had them bid it with the expectation of it being six days a week," he said. "We want not only your best guys, but you have to be adaptable to the plan. It was gangbusters from the start.” Up to 300 workers were onsite during peak construction activity, requiring meticulous coordination throughout. Okland even brought in Fred Strasser, a legendary project director who came out of retirement to shepherd the project through. "Fred is the genius behind getting this whole thing done," said Barton. The project was designed by Salt Lake-based HOK, who worked closely with the owner, Sandy-based Larry H. Miller Real Estate (LHMRE) and Miller Sports + Entertainment (MSE) to bring about a project that would add even more buzz to its wildly popular, 4,000-acre master planned Daybreak development in South Jordan, making it a true entertainment destination. The design weaves together best-in-class baseball experiences with year-round public amenities, including a recently opened Megaplex theater, a performing arts center, a large amphitheater, along with retail, restaurants, and apartments, with buildout continuing through 2027. Walking paths and open spaces create natural connections between The Ballpark and the surrounding neighborhood, making the area an iconic community asset and a true sports and entertainment district. Downtown Daybreak is slated to host more than 200 annual events—including the Bees’ 75-game regular season. Supporting this entertainment destination, the venue’s prominent location just off the Mountain View Corridor freeway makes it highly visible to passing traffic while providing easy access. The stadium is also connected to multiple transportation options, easily reached by walking, biking or light rail across the Wasatch Front, and by car from the new freeway corridor. The Ballpark site drops 20 feet from the loading dock to the plaza, managed through terraced spaces that echo the region’s mining heritage. Though the slope stays gentle at under 5%, carefully placed stairs and planters make walking comfortable while honoring the industrial past. The center field main entrance connects to light rail, while a formal plaza at home plate serves as a second entrance, primarily for VIP access. The street design follows Daybreak’s established standards for lighting and tree spacing. Bike racks at the light rail station and plaza make cycling to games convenient. Utah’s Landscape Shapes Design The Wasatch Mountains, visible from every angle of the ballpark, directly influenced the ballpark's design. Throughout the venue, carefully planned viewpoints frame these mountain vistas. The structure resembles this mountainous setting in its form, transitioning from solid brick and concrete at its base to lighter materials—metal and expansive glass—as it ascends. Working with Kansas City-based architectural metal fabricator Zahner, HOK and MSE created a distinctive facade using perforated metal panels that suggest Utah mountain peak silhouettes from Ben Lomond Peak in Weber County to Mt. Nebo, the southernmost and highest mountain in the Wasatch Range of Utah. These panels transform into a glowing display at night, serving as a lantern on The Ballpark’s ‘front porch’ and welcoming visitors. This connection to Utah’s landscape flows throughout the site. Angular planters guide visitors along pathways, while public spaces are arranged in terraces that echo the mountainside. The copper colors and stepped surfaces of the nearby Kennecott Mine inspired the ballpark’s materials and layout. Inside, the decor features warm copper, gold and honey tones, with textured materials that blend the natural landscape with the Salt Lake Bees’ team colors.
Horrocks CEO Bryan Foote (left) shakes hands with Matt Hirst, former President/CEO of CRS Engineering & Survey. Horrocks acquired CRS a year ago in a move that has proven to be a seamless fit for more than 60 CRS employees.
Nathan Goodrich
