Ross Wentworth’s Career Defined by Notable Impact on K-12 Market

By Brad Fullmer

“Ross is the epitome of a great boss. He’s very level-headed, very deliberate with the thought process, so it made him a stabilizing force in our firm. Often times he would play devil’s advocate just to make sure we’re not all a bunch of yes men. That happened many times, just trying to shake things up if he thought we were being too comfortable with our decision.” — Chris Lund 

Ross Wentworth has had a unique career spanning five decades—the final 31 years at Salt Lake-based NWL Architects—with experience as an engineering draftsman, a school district administration official, and an accomplished architect renowned for his K-12 design prowess. 


He admits his career path after high school “wasn’t a plan—it just kind of came together.” But he certainly made the most of the opportunities that came his way. 

A native of Salt Lake’s Glendale area, he graduated from South High in 1970 and spent six months in National Guard basic training before to serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the North Central Mission in Mexico from 1971-1973. Upon returning home, the brother of Dixine, his girlfriend and future wife, helped him get a job as a draftsman at Key Engineering, a Salt Lake-based electrical firm, where he worked under Jerry Harvey and Brent McKay. Dixine urged Wentworth to attend school with her at the University of Utah, and he ended up taking a series of design classes from Tom Case, a professor at the School of Architecture.

“Tom Case was inspiring—he was quite a character and convinced me I could get through architecture school,” said Wentworth, who earned a Master of Architecture in 1979 while working at Key Engineering, which led to exposure to local architectural firms.


“There was a time we were working with [Salt Lake-based] Brixen and Christopher on a new Jewish Synagogue on 2700 East off I-80, and their level of commitment to this synagogue just impressed me,” said Wentworth. “I thought, ‘I want to work for Jim Christopher’. I pestered him for three months and he finally said to come in. Jerry Harvey tried to steer me to engineering, but I liked the artsy side of things.”


Wentworth started at Brixen and Christopher in 1979 and received mentorship from the likes of Christopher, Arthur Pett and Myron Richardson. He earned his professional license during a five-year stint with the firm, then decided to strike out on his own in 1985. The venture fell flat, in part due to brutal economic conditions at the time. That led to a conversation with a previous professor, Ted Smith, where he learned about a position at Granite School District as Director of School Facilities. Smith gave him a glowing recommendation, and he landed the job in 1986.


Working for Granite proved invaluable to Wentworth, giving him unique insight into how design firms approach K-12 projects, from proposal submissions and interviews to the overall design process. 


“It was really interesting,” he said. “I went from this young architect to the head of school building [at Granite].” He described that 10-year period at Brixen and Christopher and Granite combined as “two major milestones” in his career, as the former helped him understand the commitment it takes to do good work, and the latter gave him exposure to schools and classroom environments.


Two Fire Incidents Prove Fortuitous

A fire at Lincoln Elementary towards the end of the ‘80s led Wentworth to meeting eventual partner Ken Naylor. He hired Silver Naylor Architects on an emergency basis to repair the South Salt Lake school, and the firm “knocked it out of the park,” Wentworth said. He awarded the firm another emergency project—a renovation of Cyprus High’s pool in Magna—and was impressed with Naylor’s attention to detail. 


“Ken did a great job—he was sharp. Shortly thereafter, he started bugging me about working together,” Wentworth recalled. So the two joined forces in 1990 and were awarded Snow Canyon High School in St. George that year, Wentworth’s first K-12 project. 


They convinced Washington County School District (WCSD) that it could save money by utilizing tilt-up concrete, a revolutionary design concept for the K-12 market at that time. Panels were integrally cast in a red rock earth color and the project was a roaring success. 


“We made a great connection on that school with the client—it was lean, it was mean, and we have been doing work for [WCSD] ever since,” said Wentworth. “That school cemented a great client relationship. We’re still doing tilt-up concrete work on all their schools today.” 


Wentworth remained fixated on the K-12 market for the next 30 years, and estimates having designed over a hundred total projects, including 50 major new or fully renovated schools, an impressive number by any measure. 


The second fire occurred in July 2003, a five-alarm blaze that gutted the Latter-day Saint Apia Samoa Temple while it was being renovated (it was originally dedicated in 1983). NWL had no prior design experience on temples, but Principal Chris Lund managed to get an invite, largely based on the strength of a courtroom renovation project for the Frank E. Moss Courthouse in Salt Lake. 


“We never expected to be doing that work,” said Wentworth. “The Church wanted to make something happen quickly, and we had just enough experience to get invited to the interview. We didn’t have any temple experience, but we took in pictures of the historical courtrooms, and suddenly we look credible. Chris has done a great job of maintaining the client relationship and delivering great projects. It’s taken us internationally.


According to Lund, NWL has provided design for 49 temples worldwide on six continents—including start-to-finish design for 35 temples. Lund praised Wentworth for being a significant mentor on his career and for his long-term impact on the firm. 


“Ross is the epitome of a great boss,” said Lund, President/CEO, who started at Naylor Wentworth Architects in 1995 after earning a Master of Architecture from the University of Utah. “He was a great partner and mentor. He’s very level-headed, very deliberate with the thought process, so it made him a stabilizing force in our firm. Often times he would play devil’s advocate just to make sure we’re not all a bunch of yes men. That happened many times, just trying to shake things up if he thought we were being too comfortable with our decision.”


Lund continued, “He was very trusting in what he allowed me to do as a young architect.” Lund mentioned Murray High and the Dixie Center in St. George as major projects he designed with Wentworth early on. “He helped me develop some design muscle. I’m indebted to him in my career, and in how I treat my partners.”


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Federal Courthouse Proves Immensely Satisfying 

Perhaps the crown jewel of Wentworth’s career project list is the Orrin G. Hatch U.S. Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake (completed in 2014), a dynamic, modern glass building highlighted by a stunning 10-story atrium in the center that houses a spectacular sculpture comprised of 380 tubes of optical aluminum. It includes slick interior finishes of rich wood paneling, white oak floors and a circular glass staircase that connects the first three floors and serves as a focal point of the entry atrium. 

Wentworth said he spent 20 years—two-thirds of his NWL career—working on various aspects of that project, serving as project manager/project architect in addition to being part of the selection process as the local architecture firm tasked with bringing in a nationally recognized lead designer. NWL chose Thomas Phifer and Partners of New York City, and together they submitted the winning proposal in a hotly contested design competition. The $185 million project stands as one of the most recognizable buildings in Utah’s capital. 


“It consumed me for 20 years—we turned in our first proposal in 1996 and our final pay request in 2016,” said Wentworth. “We had to find a lead designer and we really struggled. Tom Phifer calls, and we don’t know who he is. He had been with Richard Meier’s office [Newark, NJ] and had a resume of significant courthouses that were very modern. He had just started an office and had a good friend connected to GSA. We had no other choice. We hooked up at the last minute and we cranked for a month on the design competition. It was way beyond anything we had ever done.


“It’s an amazing project,” he added. “It was recognized with a National AIA Honor Award. We played second fiddle, but the nice thing for me was we carried the contract and he worked for us. That was fun […]and as satisfying as many of the school buildings I’ve designed.”


Reflecting on NWL’s 70th Anniversary 

Wentworth was born in 1952, the same year Roy Silver originally founded NWL. Wentworth officially retired at the beginning of 2022 but still visits the office on occasion, sometimes simply to see what’s going on, and to connect with long-time co-workers and friends. 


Wentworth is presently serving as a Latter-day Saint Bishop (Salt Lake Central Stake 12th Ward), with his local congregation having recently moved to the new chapel located within 95 State at City Creek, a towering 25-story downtown office tower. He’s been in this role for five years, in addition to serving as President of the Liberty Stake for 10 years prior to that, and Bishop of the Liberty Ward for five years, giving him 20 years of ecclesiastical service (whew!). 


As he gets ready to celebrate his 70th birthday in June, the significance of NWL marking its 70th anniversary is certainly a special coincidence. He couldn’t be more proud of what the firm has accomplished in its long history. Confident it’s in great hands and brimming with young talent, as he rides off into the sunset. Two of his final projects, Skyline High and Cyprus High, are under construction and likely to finish sometime in 2024 after many years of planning and design. 


“I come in here and we have all these young people, and I ask myself, ‘Where are they going to go?’ The firm provides a place for young designers and architects to build a career. Some stay with us, some move on,” he said. “[70 years] shows a lot of good people working hard to keep something going. I think of the people who have a place to land and try out a career, to find out if they can give it a shot. That’s the cool thing. You feel good because you feel like you didn’t blow it. Businesses come and go. We worked hard, we made some good decisions, we lucked out to some degree. You’ve got to be there and trying for that luck to take effect. You don’t get awarded that commission unless you go after it.” 


He continued, “I’m not sure I was ready to retire, but once you step away from day-to-day activities, you recognize the pressure you were under, whether it’s chasing work or hiring someone or meeting payroll or finding the right insurance package. It’s someone else’s problem, and it feels so good. I can be a little lost some days. I’ll come visit these guys, get my free Diet Coke, and see what’s going on. It's fun not carrying that pressure.”

Black Desert Oasis

By Brad Fullmer • October 15, 2025
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.

Calder Richards Celebrates 20 Years of Sustainable Evolution

By UC&D • October 1, 2025
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.

The (Epi)Center of it All

By By Taylor Larsen • October 1, 2025
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.”

Goal!

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Front view of the bleachers, press box, and suites. (photos courtesy SIRQ Construction)

Four Decades of Transformation

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
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.

Good Career? Start Here

By Taylor Larsen • October 1, 2025
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.

It's A Knockout

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
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.”

Significant Buzz

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
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.

Firms Making Moves

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
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.

Q&A with Nathan Goodrich

By UC&D • August 1, 2025
Nathan Goodrich