Spectrum Executives

Salt Lake-based MEPT firm is confident in its current trajectory; aiming to remain among the biggest and most diverse engineering firms in the Intermountain region.
By Brad Fullmer

As one of the premier multi-disciplinary engineering consulting firms in the Intermountain region, Salt Lake-based Spectrum Engineers has forged a sterling reputation as a company that consistently delivers world-class design on high-profile, supremely challenging projects. 

Founded in October 1982 by Stewart “Skip" Greene as primarily an electrical engineering firm, Spectrum has developed over the years into a full-blown MEPT (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, technology) firm that specializes in a wide array of professional design services, including specialty services such as acoustical, audio-visual, lighting, fire protection, and building commissioning via sister firm Total Building Commissioning. 

As Spectrum Engineers celebrates its 40th anniversary in October, company executives are extremely grateful for the many clients and team members they have been able to work with over the years. These relationships and collective team efforts have helped Spectrum become what it is today. This excellence is manifest by ranking as the top MEP engineering firm in Utah Construction & Design’s Engineering rankings the past four years (2018-21), with annual revenues of $18.9 million, $17.5 million, $23.3 million and $23.7 million.


Following in Father’s Footsteps 

Skip Greene admits to being heavily influenced by his father, Orrin “Chet” Greene, a professional engineer who forged a prominent career primarily as an electrical contractor. Chet founded Salt Lake-based Skyline Electric in 1959 when Greene was eight years old. 

Once Greene graduated from Olympus High and got to the University of Utah, he partnered with his father to provide electrical engineering services for a couple of Chet’s clients, before ultimately buying him out in October 1982.

Greene said Chet’s success with Skyline—it was the third largest electrical contractor at one point in the 1980s—gave him all the confidence he needed in starting his own firm.

“I owe him a lot,” said Green of his father, who passed away at 87 in March 2013. “For life, mentoring me, and his reputation in the community, which opened many future doors.”

“The name ‘Spectrum’ developed from our experience that it was difficult to develop reliable 

processes that successfully integrated information sharing between the engineering disciplines 

of separate firms,” Green explained. “This problem could cause the reworking of the design, 

which could be avoided.” He added that these inefficiencies led to a decrease in quality while 

increasing costs. In addition, engineering firms would outsource specialty design elements, 

which led to various problems with compatibility and synchronization. 

Hence, Spectrum Engineers, Inc. was named as such because Greene envisioned a firm that could offer a full spectrum of disciplines and services.

Greene made it a point to expand Spectrum’s areas of specialization, which began with the 

acquisition of an acoustical firm in the late 1980s followed by nine other firms over the 

next 30 years, including ones that specialized in mechanical engineering, lighting design, and 

structured cabling.



Setting a High Bar

“It all stems from setting a high bar of who we hire to begin with,” said Dave Wesemann, President/CEO. “One of our strengths is having these specialists. We’re not a firm with engineers being a jack of all trades. We were the first to establish specialties as a design discipline and have people who were experts in each of these fields. We like to stay ahead of the curve and set the bar for everybody else.” 

One example of how Spectrum has set the bar is its formation of “Centers of Excellence”— groups of engineers and other team members who focus on one market sector or project type.  Wesemann notes that in the early days of Spectrum, the same engineer would work on all types of projects and would have to re-invent the wheel for every new project.  “By having teams who learn, gain experience, and become experts in a given project type allows us to achieve excellence in the quality and ultimate value that we offer to our clients.”  says Wesemann.  Healthcare and Higher Education are just a few examples of Spectrum’s Centers of Excellence. 

Wesemann referenced building information modeling (BIM) as an another example of the firm’s willingness to embrace new technologies in day-to-day operations. 

“When BIM came out in the early 2000s, we saw the industry afraid to jump into Revit,” said Wesemann. “We took a different approach and said ‘Let’s spend time and money on Revit and get really good at it.' As a result, we were way ahead of the game regarding Revit, to the point where AutoDesk (manufacturer) would invite Spectrum’s BIM people to offer suggestions with its software development.”

In addition to specialization, Greene figured out the key to keeping the best talent required them being rewarded based on their production. This was implemented by offering new employees the same opportunities as veteran employees, with compensation tied directly to production.

By the early 1990s, Greene felt the firm’s processes were giving it a competitive edge in the industry which resulted in attracting prime talent and increasing market share. Greene admitted that seeing employees succeed individually—which resulted in a stronger, more collaborative firm—was his greatest joy. 

“The most satisfying aspect of my career was watching people achieve success they never dreamed was possible,” he said. “I really believe people are more capable of being able to do things than they understand for themselves—they underestimate themselves. It doesn’t mean they have to be an entrepreneur—part of the system we developed is giving people the ability to be good at what they’re good at.”

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Spectrum Engineers is renowned for its design versatility on dozens of high-profile projects, including the Utah State Correctional Facility (USCF, page 32), Oquirrh Park Speed Skating Oval in Kearns, Intermountain Medical Center in Murray (bottom left) and the Spencer J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.  On the billion-dollar USCF project, the firm showcased its overall chops by designing electrical, AV/IT, acoustics and fire protection systems (all photos courtesy Spectrum).

Inflection Point

Given the firm’s success over the years, it may be easy to relax, but that isn’t the attitude at Spectrum. Staying "humble and hungry" and becoming the best firm they can be for the next 40 years is at the heart of their goals, while maintaining a focus on their core values: Accountability, Client Care, and Teamwork (ACT).

“Our vision at Spectrum is to be the trusted team of choice,” said RoLynne Hendricks, Principal and Chief Strategy Officer who joined the firm in 2020 to lead its strategy, marketing and business development efforts, having been recruited by President/CEO Dave Wesemann, partly based on her experience in the architectural industry.

Ambitious growth “is part of our vision—I am passionate about helping Spectrum grow strategically. We’re taking this group of amazing people, building on the foundation of the first 40 years, and setting the stage for our next growth phase. And it’s exciting!”

Wesemann, who was named President in 2016 and President/CEO in 2021 when Greene, formally retired, said the firm was proud to be ranked in ENR’s Top 100 MEP firms list for over 5  years, which quickly spurred internal discussions of what Spectrum can become before he retires. 

“We want to replicate our high-performance business model in other locations,” said Wesemann. “We have an Arizona office (Tempe), and we’re looking at other markets as well. Significant growth will take geographic expansion. At the same time, we will never lose sight of our current markets. We give them the service of a large firm but with a small firm feel, with principal involvement on projects.”

“The emphasis on an entrepreneurial culture that is built here is unique—it’s heavily performance-based,” said Chris Kobayashi, Principal and nine-year Spectrum veteran who was named Chief Operating Officer (COO) on July 1, and who represents the next wave of young leaders at the firm. Kobayashi believes the entrepreneurial culture is a key factor in the firm setting ambitious goals for the future, as it spurs employees to work as hard as they can to achieve top-shelf results. “You get what you put in—there is not a ceiling,” he said. 

“In the last couple of years, we have been setting goals and taking steps to really elevate our employees,” added Ryan Boogaard, Principal Mechanical Engineer and representative of the mechanical group. “We have been investing in tools and people that will help us better serve our clients and be a more successful company.”


Next Generation of Leaders 

Wesemann, who started at Spectrum in 1990, said he joined the firm in part because of its business model. He liked the idea of “being rewarded based on performance and hard work—it really rang true for me.” 

Wesemann said he learned many great lessons from Greene, including “do it right—no excuses,” he said. “Doing it right is usually not the easiest, fastest or cheapest way to do things, but in the end, doing it right is best and helps you sleep at night. I grasped onto that. If you do make a mistake, make it right. We all make mistakes. There were others who helped mentor me along, but most of what I learned came from Skip.”

Wesemann was named President in 2016 and then assumed the role of CEO gradually over a three-year period beginning in 2018. 

“[Greene] was gracious enough to make it a three-year transition where he would mentor me on what you have to do as a CEO,” said Wesemann. “It gave us time to plan for (his retirement). We’ll always miss Skip. He created this and is the main reason for its success today.”

Hiring Hendricks to replace long-time Marketing Director Jackie McGill, who retired in 2019 after 22 years with the firm, was a strategic move by Wesemann that he said has been essential to the firm’s mindset moving forward. She worked at VCBO from 1998-2008, then as a partner at a CPA/business advisory firm in Idaho for ten years before getting a call from Wesemann about returning to Utah’s A/E/C industry. 

“It’s about getting better every day and being strategic in our growth,” said Hendricks.“It’s about getting everyone gathered around the idea that together we can do incredible things. People are the core of everything we do […] it’s exciting when you see people coming together and having those ‘a-ha’ moments.”

Spectrum currently has 140 employees, 40 of which have ownership stakes. Executives like Wesemann, Kobayashi, and Gerald Nelson, Principal and VP of Technology, are intent on bringing in significant new talent. 

“I’m really excited about developing people and seeing these younger engineers grow—it’s something I want to be a part of,” Kobayashi said. “It’s important to ask what we can be. We’ve set plans in place and so far, this first year we’re exceeding our target of this intentional growth.”

“What’s exciting is the people we have, especially the young people,” said Nelson, who joined the firm January 1991 right after Wesemann. “My days are numbered, but we have some sharp people in their 30s and 40s.” He mentioned Sarah Rollins, Principal and Acoustician, and Jonathan Arnold, Principal and Communications Distribution Designer, as examples of young talent overseeing acoustics and structured cabling. 

Committing to high quality work, developing relationships, serving clients, and positively impacting their communities—the company is focused on people. In the end, it is relationships with people – in the company, in the industry, and in the community - that has the Spectrum team looking forward with excitement and optimism for the next 40 years.


Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center in Taylorsville highlights the firm’s theatre expertise (photo by Endeavour Architectural Photography).

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