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TEAMWORK ELEVATED

The success of the remarkable 25-story 95 State at City Creek high-rise is a testament to the dynamic collaborative effort of the entire project team.
By Brad Fullmer

Already a highly ambitious and supremely technical project from a construction standpoint, Salt Lake City’s latest office tower—the ultra-sexy, 25-story 95 State at City Creek—became even more challenging when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, forcing executives from Salt Lake-based general contractor Okland Construction to institute strict protocols to ensure worker safety. 

And it was no small feat, with peak worker capacity hovering near 600 at one point. According to Zach Lewis, Project Director for Okland, every subcontractor on the job answered the bell, resulting in the project nary missing a beat and remaining firmly on schedule. Lewis expressed profound gratitude at how everyone rallied together and the collective “beehive” mentality that existed during a demanding time.

“We were in the height of building this project when Covid hit—every day I was amazed and proud and humbled by people who showed up and did their job,” said Lewis. “We were serious about mask-wearing. We got to a point where we could walk through, and everyone was wearing a mask. I take my hat off to the men and women who showed up every day and made it possible.”

Mike Jueschke, Okland’s Sr. Project Manager, echoed Lewis’ sentiments. 

“I was amazed not only by workers showing up but hanging heavy steel with a mask on—not an easy task,” he said. “For a good portion of [hanging steel], we didn’t have elevators. Hiking stairs in a mask, glasses fogging up […] it was a frustration for the workforce, but they complied. We had people thanking us that we were enforcing it so rigidly so they could keep working.”

Jueschke said when it came to pouring concrete, “You can’t ‘social distance,’ so we reduced the workforce as much as possible […] and re-sequenced the direction we placed concrete to not jam people into corners.”

The stylish lobby space is highlighted by a high-end Italian white marble, rich wood ceiling panels,
and a giant digital video display (photo courtesy SOM © Dave Burk).

A Project Like No Other

There are many one-of-a-kind superlatives on owner City Creek Reserve Inc.’s (CCRI) second major office tower that graces Utah’s capital city—24-story 111 Main was completed in 2016—including a dynamic, highly complex structural system, the visually stunning and highly functional all-glass curtain wall system, the exquisite white Italian marble in the main lobby, and the fact that the building includes two chapels that serve a dozen wards (congregations) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

There are many one-of-a-kind superlatives to describe owner City Creek Reserve Inc.’s (CCRI) second major office tower—the 24-story 111 Main was completed in 2016—that graces Utah’s capital city. Start with 95 State's dynamic, highly complex structural system, the visually stunning and highly functional all-glass curtain wall system, the exquisite white Italian marble in the main lobby, and the fact that the building includes two chapels that serve a dozen local congregations for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to name a few. 

Designed by San Francisco-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)—the same architect as 111 Main—95 State at City Creek is the second phase of a multi-phase development that ties into the adjacent Harmons grocery store and parking garage that came online in 2011. A single-level basement houses mechanical equipment and parking, with the two chapels occupying the second through fourth floors. A posh fitness center and three spacious conference rooms comprise the fifth floor, which opens onto an adjacent roof garden terrace. 

Beyond commercial office space and the chapels, the project includes the Social Hall Pavilion and an underground tunnel that links the tower directly to City Creek Center mall west of State Street. The pavilion is a glass-enclosed redevelopment of the former Social Hall Museum building with 1,850 SF of retail space. 

SOM had up to 10 architects working on this project at one time, led by Steve Sobel, Managing Principal; Michael Duncan, Design Partner; and Sean Ragasa, Design Principal. Each said having prior experience with the client on 111 Main helped streamline the process, even though the two buildings have little in common other than their respective “wow” factor. 

“We’ve done a number of projects with City Creek Reserve—the relationship goes back to work we did on the same site for the Harmons grocery store,” said Duncan, adding that SOM also did master planning on Block 75 and 76 (City Creek Mall and both sides of Main Street). “Those relationships have been positive. For a project of this scale, to have those open lines of communication and being creative together helps the success of the project.”

Jueschke echoed SOM, saying, “There was great mutual trust.”

“Our relationship with CCRI on 111 Main grew a great sense of trust between us,” added Ragasa. “It required us to be on the same page and completely aligned. We knew the same level of quality could be achieved, and that we could trust [CCRI Construction Manager] Sean Tuite to make sure this building came together the way we designed it.” 

“We had to design a building as significant [as 111 Main], but different,” said Sobel. “We talked about the imagery of the building […] and how it captured the mountains behind it. It’s a different type of glazing in terms of color. The curved glass [four giant curved panels create the corners] is one aspect as the building curves on the east and west façades to capture views in a 360-degree manner—they are quite spectacular. The ‘wow’ factor is the overall composition and beautiful form that sit nicely in the city scale.” He also praised the craftsmanship and detail of the glass curtain wall system, which offers “sensational” public spaces in the lobby area. 

Including two full-sized chapels make 95 State one of the most unique buildings ever designed—not only in Salt Lake but anywhere in the world. Designers were careful to make the office ecclesiastical elements different, yet symmetrical enough to look seamless in their respective aesthetics. 

“The idea of contrasting commercial office space with ecclesiastical space was exciting,” said Duncan.

“We didn’t want the ecclesiastical portion to feel too rigid,” added Ragasa. “One of the things we used to distinguish the meetinghouse was the use of art glass on the north end. We came up with a cast glass pattern that varies in colors [pink and orange, blue and green], where sunlight creates great light and projects onto the street. It’s one of our favorite aspects of the building.”

Designers also prioritized sustainability, utilizing LEED and WELL Building Standard criteria to embrace sustainability from individual tenant health (WELL) to 95 State’s context in the greater built environment (LEED). The project is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification.


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An ecclesiastical element—two full-size chapels and meeting rooms in the first four floors—is one of the more unique aspects of the project and serves a dozen local congregations (aerial photo courtesy Endeavour Architectural Photography). Copious amounts of natural daylighting is a staple throughout the all-glass building (photo courtesy SOM © Dave Burk)

Complex Structural System Designed 

for Optimum Seismic Resistance 

With the 392-foot-tall building (currently the third tallest in Salt Lake City) located within 1.5 miles of the Wasatch Fault, SOM’s structural engineering team utilized state-of-the-art, performance-based seismic design modeling/standards to ensure optimum response in the event of a major seismic event. 

According to Peter Lee, Associate Principal with SOM, a linear and non-linear analysis was done on the maximum considered earthquake—7.5 magnitude. It was based on 21 different earthquake models, with the final model taking more than a month to compute.

“We’re looking at it on worst-case scenarios using the most advanced methods of our time to model and design it,” said Lee. “The building became much better in terms of performance and efficiency than a building designed to [standard] code. It’s a different challenge with a slender site.”

The tower’s superstructure is highlighted with reinforced concrete core walls, which have a lateral seismic-force-resisting system that consists of special ductile reinforced concrete core shear walls. Combined with the coupling beam construction extending from a pile and pile cap-supported deep foundation system to the penthouse roof at Level 26, there is a lot of excellent structural engineering to appreciate. 

The slender core wall depth running east-west is just over 33 feet, with core shear walls ranging from 24- to 30-inch thick with concrete compressive strengths of 8,000 psi. The shear wall core is interconnected with ductile reinforced coupling beams at doorway and corridor openings. 

Lee said the foundation includes an 11-foot deep matte foundation that sits on 363 24-inch diameter auger cast-in-place displacement piles drilled 110 feet into the ground. Huge outrigger grade beams help with transverse direction support that engage the core with perimeter columns at the basement level. 

“The reason the building is on a deeper pile foundation is so that it can support the loads,” said Lee. “It’s a very reliable structural system for Salt Lake.” 

“We had to tie the building down and include tension and compression piles,” said Tuite. “Because we have a thin building, we had to oversize the piles by three times. This is one of the most leading-edge seismic-resistant buildings in the world. In a seismic event, the top catwalk is designed to move over six feet and reset. There is more steel in the ground than in the building. Piles and pile caps have almost 50% more tonnage than the building.”

Tuite added that the introduction of the meetinghouse element required a higher code compliance level.

“It’s kind of ironic that if you have a public assembly space of over 300 [people], it actually pushes [the building] to a higher code criteria than having 3,000 office workers,” said Tuite. 

The building includes 5,700 tons of steel, which includes a 1,900-ton hat roof truss system. On level five, the cantilever levels hang over an adjacent structure, rising 19 floors to the top of the building. The hat truss system carries the weight of the entire structure and cantilevers over the building’s four sides. 


High Performance Glass/Curtain Wall System

The smoky-colored, all-glass curtain wall system is not only aesthetically pleasing but structurally resilient. 

Exterior curtain wall systems had several interesting components, including a four-ply curved, laminated glass system that spans from the lobby floor to the underside of level three. Panels are 10 feet by 28 feet with no perpendicular mullions—a stark contrast to 111 Main, which also has an equally high glass lobby but is backed by vertical glass mullions. 

“On this building, we were able to take advantage of the curved wall system and have the structural glass support itself,” said Lee. He said SOM collaborated with some of the best firms in the glazing and curtain wall, including Salt Lake-based subcontractor/installer Steel Encounters and structural façade engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan of New York City. 

Tuite said the glass curtain wall system was designed to incorporate maximum deflection without any loss of glass.

“As a long-hold owner, we do things like that,” said Tuite. “This building theoretically can deflect five to six feet and not lose any glass.”

Installation required a yeoman-like effort from crews from Steel Encounters, said Project Manager Chad Johnson, a 27-year veteran of the industry. 

“It’s just a huge accomplishment for the whole team,” said Johnson. “The uniqueness of the tower itself, with it being rounded corners all the way up makes it an amazing building. We had a lot of challenges, mainly just racing time. We dealt with Covid and still maintained our schedule. The field team did a phenomenal job dealing with what was in front of them. They were on the front lines, just trying to maintain the schedule. We had no time off and had to adjust on the fly with new protocols and procedures.”

The sheer size of the individual glass panels also was a major challenge for the firm. Johnson said the fact that the panels had vertical fin support was unique, and the first time has team has performed it in Utah. Each piece ranged from 4,000 lbs. to 7,800 lbs. with the heaviest pieces being the rounded corner panels on the lobby level. A special glass suction cup system designed by German-based Heavydrive included more than 100 cups to lift each panel via a hydro-crane. Johnson said his firm learned from its experience on 111 Main that a tower crane has too much bounce in the cable. 

“The building has some of the largest freestanding glass panels that we’ve used on any project in the world,” added Duncan. “The detail is very impressive.”


Lobby Highlighted by Italian White Marble 

One of the core design elements is the sleek white marble, supplied by Italian supplier and manufacturer Campolonhi from its Carrara quarry. Because of the pandemic, much of the stone selection occurred via video conferencing. Once the material was selected, a small team traveled to Italy to procure the stone. The design team used high-resolution photos to map the stone on 3D renderings with 2D elevations, creating a “virtual dry lay” of the walls and a set of rules of placement to guide the supplier. 

The final installation result had an unparalleled level of craftsmanship that belies the almost entirely virtual process. 

Jueschke said six large marble blocks were used with a tremendous final yield. Crews from Salt Lake-based Kepco+ had to perform almost perfectly, with the final result a testament to the firm’s skill and expertise. Kepco+ achieved 1/32 of an inch or better tolerances, a remarkable feat of precision. 

“There was no replacement piece if a piece was cut wrong or broken,” said Jueschke. “We had a whole set of protections in place with the handling and the installation, to the point that we were babying the stone. We got a big win with Kepco’s work.” 

The lobby also features a long, integral video screen that acts as an art piece, something that is dynamic and ever-changing. Duncan said “it extends the character of the lobby and makes the space a lot more active. Its movements work well with the curvature of the stone.”


The curved glass curtain wall system is one of the most distinctive, visual elements of the new high-rise and sets it apart from other buildings in downtown Salt Lake (photos courtesy SOM © Dave Burk)

Overall Teamwork Key to Successful Project

Compliments among the key players were effusive. Lewis praised Tuite for his expertise and ability to navigate tricky situations. 

“Sean is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” he said. “He understands construction, understands motivation, finance, and quality. I learned early on that taking his cues was beneficial. If he thought something was an issue, every time he was right. At the end of the job, I felt like we had a great relationship with Sean and CCRI.”

Jueschke also praised the design team for its efforts to design a building with a high level of constructability. The prior relationships developed on 111 Main made it seem like an extension of that project. 

“It was extremely beneficial having those relationships,” he said. “SOM is a fantastic architect and engineer. Having that behind us was beneficial to hitting the ground running and continuing those relationships. It’s no secret that there is a ‘grinding of gears’ between entities on a project of this magnitude, but we had those prior relationships to fall back on. Knowing what their design intent is was important—it’s not something you can communicate through documents. We all had expectations.” 

Sobel added, “It was a very collaborative process with the client and Okland, and that made for a great project. The best projects are the ones that everyone enjoys. In the end, everyone is super excited that we delivered what we hand in our mind’s eye from the beginning.” 



95 State at City Creek

Owner: City Creek Reserve, Inc.

Owner’s Rep: Sean Tuite

Developer: City Creek Reserve, Inc.


Size

Site Area: 32,085 SF

Project Area: 585,900 SF

Building Height: 395 ft.

Stories: 25


Design Team/Consultants

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Civil Engineer: Great Basin Engineering

Electrical Engineer: Syska Hennessy Group

Mechanical Engineer: Syska Hennessy Group

Structural Engineer: Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill

Geotechnical Engineer: Consolidated Engineering Laboratories

Landscape Design: MGB+A

Parking: International Parking Design

Fire Protection: Jensen Hughes

Lighting Design: Luma 

Door Hardware: Allegion

Vertical Transportation: EWCG

Wind: RWDI

Acoustics/AV/Security: Shen Milson & Wilke

MEP/Sustainability/Energy Modeling: Syska Hennessy Group

LEED/WELL Consultants: Zinner Consultants 


Construction Team

General Contractor: Okland Construction

Concrete: Okland Construction

Concrete Reinforcement: Harris Rebar 

Plumbing: Archer Mechanical

HVAC: Archer Mechanical; B2Air

Electrical: Hunt Electric

Masonry: IMS Masonry, Kepco+, RJ Masonry

Drywall/Acoustics: CSI Drywall, Inc.

Painting: Grow Painting

Tile/Stone: IMS Masonry; Kepco+; RJ Masonry, Metro

Carpentry: Boswell Wasatch

Flooring: Spectra, Kepco+

Roofing: Utah Tile & Roofing

Glass/Curtain Wall: Steel Encounters, Inc.

Waterproofing: Waterproofing West

Steel Fabrication & Erection: SME Steel

Excavation & Demolition: Jones Excavating

Landscaping: Intermountain Plantings

Kimley-Horn SLC Office Marks 10 Years

By By Brad Fullmer • October 4, 2024
It's been a decade since Kimley-Horn, one of the nation’s top engineering and design consultancy firms, launched an office in Salt Lake, and by all accounts, the Wasatch Front market has been a boon to the civil engineering firm, with local leaders feeling highly optimistic about its future success and growth in the Beehive State. The Salt Lake office was opened by Zach Johnson in 2014, who previously spent time in three other Kimley-Horn offices including Sacramento, Orange County, and Denver, with three total people comprising the initial staff. The firm's Denver office was providing consulting services for the Utah Department of Transportation and put together a market analysis regarding expanding into its neighbor to the west. "The market analysis we put together showed we should have had an office in Utah 10 years previously [2004], so we decided to plant a flag and open an office," said Johnson, who leads the office along with seasoned Salt Lake office practice leaders Chris Bick, Leslie Morton, and Nicole Williams. Like any new start-up endeavor, it was rough sledding initially, but strong regional support and the sheer tenacity of boots-on-the-ground marketing started paying off, with explosive growth happening along the way. "I would describe the first few years as lean," said Johnson. "We had to be creative, we had to be scrappy to capture work and rely on our partners across the country, folks who had clients in Utah and rely on those relationships. Those first two to three years were about relationship building and knocking on doors that didn't always open. It was a lot of fun."

A Future Paved with Intentionality

By Taylor Larsen • October 3, 2024
Nearly 90 minutes into a conversation with Dave Edwards and Bruce Fallon, the two remembered a story about the values of WPA Architecture from years before. Fallon was in talks with the principals at the firm to define values for the rest of the company. Longtime ownership, with decades of experience founding and building up their own firm, weren’t against the idea, but the idea of formalizing it all seemed inconsequential. Fallon had been a Principal with the firm for ten years and finally asked longtime Principal Alan Poulson (who retired in December 2023), ‘What motivates you?’ to which [Poulson] answered, ‘Providing for my family.’ The thought has stuck with Fallon and Edwards ever since. “It drove [Poulson] in everything he did,” Fallon said. “He was excellent in everything he did so he could provide for his family.” Now that the two lead WPA as Principals, they have looked to embrace excellence through intentionality—in purpose, relationships, and work ethic—that will lead the firm to new heights.

Art of the Grill

By Taylor Larsen • September 1, 2024
Touring the brand name in grilling with Marbe Agee feels fitting, especially as she discussed the design concepts embodied throughout Traeger Grills’ new headquarters. Agee, a southerner and Principal at Method Studio, has helped to build Utah’s office scene by envisioning awe-inspiring commercial spaces for clients, especially here with the firm’s most recently finished work—modernizing a cluster of old buildings and turning them into a clean, 21st-century workplace. “We worked to make sure to not have brik-a-brak or gobbledy gook,” she said of the design, sprinkling our conversation with southern seasonings I haven’t heard used since my dad said “daggum” when referring to the sweltering Oklahoma heat. Committing to those design standards with plenty of existing “gobbledy gook” would be a challenge from concept to delivery. But Traeger Grills, their design team led by Method Studio, and their construction team led by Layton Construction's Interior Construction Specialists, joined forces to perfectly balance the ingredients on site with modern expertise to create a space to savor. Marinade Touring with David Knorr feels fitting, too. The Layton ICS Project Manager has a deep, gentle voice that combines with his beard and flannel shirt to make Knorr a pitmaster personified. He said he does use his Traeger grill often, but his domain is less barbecue, more building. Knorr, Agee, and their teammates at Layton ICS and Method Studio have shared a meal or two with the Traeger team in their ten-plus-year relationship working across multiple projects. Agee and Knorr mentioned watching Traeger go from working on MityLite tables in a Springville warehouse over a decade ago to building the office for the brand name in outdoor cooking with an award-winning project in the Wilmington Flats building in Sugar House. When the time came to envision a “Traeger 2.0” in a 2019 conversation with the Traeger Grills top brass, the designers and builders were ready to leap into action, with construction beginning in September 2021. Agee and the Method Studio Workplace team designed with certain goals in mind: fostering human connection and a place of belonging with a compelling set of work environments that draw you to the space. But, she said, this design needed to stay true to Traeger Grills and how they work while remaining unencumbered by current workplace trends. “Our current philosophy is to create a workplace that is not homeful, or heaven forbid the overused ‘resimercial’ word, but rather something that is better than what employees have at home,” Agee said. What she and her team are trying to capture in their office design is a culture-specific environment “where employees want to be.”

Marmalade Plaza Bearing Fruit

By Taylor Larsen • September 1, 2024
Tucked just beyond the hustle and bustle of 300 West in Salt Lake City is something sweet: Marmalade Plaza—the collaborative work between third-generation Utah family business Cal Wadsworth Construction and landscape architects and designers at Salt Lake-based LOCI. Amidst the lovely built features and vegetation installed around the half-acre site, what catches the eye is the giant bronze apricot statue on the project's westernmost edge. Statue artist Day Christensen, with his last name so fitting for the Beehive State, delved into the Marmalade District’s rich past as the inspiration for his work on “Apricot,” saying the area’s steep streets were named after quince, apricot, and almond fruits as residents used those fruits to make and sell marmalade. The sculpture, he said, serves as a constant reminder of the neighborhood's origins and the ingenuity of its pioneers. That ingenuity in design and execution was a theme as the project team delivered a public space befitting Salt Lake’s historic Marmalade District. The plaza design took off in 2014 with LOCI Principal and founder Michael Budge and his newly minted firm working on their first project. Instead of funding delays that pushed construction back, Marmalade Plaza would need to wait for future development to finish before starting. The landscape architect said the half-acre parcel was always set up as a public space between existing developments at that time (Marmalade Library; Capitol Villa Apartments) and future projects (Harvest Apartments; Grove at Marmalade townhomes). Public involvement quickly settled on a design priority that remains top of mind for many Utah residents—water. “From day one, we wanted a water feature,” said Budge. The plaza would honor the body of water that existed on site previously, one the Army Corps of Engineers had to ensure wasn’t a wetland. The LOCI team designed an abstract wetland in its place, complete with water boxes for the future rushes to be installed. Winning the construction bid was Cal Wadsworth Construction’s entry point to test their collective chops. “We thought that all of the concrete work was exciting,” Jordan Wadsworth said. As Director of Operations for Cal Wadsworth Construction, the design that called for board-formed precast cubes, cast-in-place bridges and steps, plus sandblasted artistic flair would push him and his team to innovative heights. Turning the site from a post-development mud pit into an urban oasis was challenging on such a tight site. One small entrance on the southern edge for concrete trucks and construction teams required high-level sequencing to get the right people on-site at the right time. Connection and coordination were always at the forefront, especially with how the project integrates with the nearby buildings. That LOCI was hired by Harvest Apartments, adjacent to the to the north and west, to design their landscaping and more was a huge win, ultimately helped to site the complex’s three apartment buildings and combine features where landscaping seen in project dovetails perfectly in the other, flowing together like the plaza’s 100-ft-long water feature. “It’s not an easy design and hats off to the contractors who built it,” said Budge. Not easy is an understatement, especially with the ipe (pronounced E-pay) Brazilian hardwood decking. Dense, heavy, durable, and challenging meant a few hundred drill bits were sacrificed at the altar of construction. But the team persevered, developing a system to make cuts so clean that the hardwood boards appear pre-engineered. “All of it was hand done,” Wadsworth said of the work with the decking. Precision and care were standout features of the Cal Wadsworth Construction team as they self-performed cast-in-place concrete benches with the gentlest curves, three concrete bridges, as well as concrete steps across the northern end of the water feature—all surrounded by two lines of paperbark maple trees. “It’s refined,” said Budge. “It’s less so someone’s backyard, but [more] an urban plaza you’d find in a major city.” The slight bend in the form of the benches, water feature, and around 1,600 SF of decking are not only a circulation effort moving people from southwest to north or vice versa, but a testament to the work from the Cal Wadsworth team to artfully construct such complicated forms. The design also called for precast concrete cubes ranging in height between 9” - 3’9” in height. Built by Brigham City-based Mountain West Precast, each of the cubes was picked and placed close to the final location before a forklift positioned each of them on their respective bolts before epoxying them in place. Wadsworth said it came together “like a Tetris puzzle.” The project team dug deep into their problem-solving bag after the fire marshal refused to allow the grass turf of LOCI’s original design. The landscape architects pivoted to replacing the turf with two 25-foot-plus sycamore trees to help cool and shade the plaza’s 5,000 SF of concrete hardscape.

Movin' on UP!

By Doug Fox • September 1, 2024
There’s a new jewel in the crown of Silicon Slopes architecture: the visually stunning Traverse Heights Office Building. The six-story structure, housing 57,000 square feet of Class A professional office space and featuring a floor-to-ceiling curtain wall glass facade, sits like a queen on a bluff overlooking the I-15 corridor in Lehi and the expanse of Utah Valley. If you’re traveling through that section of north Utah County, you can’t miss it on the east side of I-15. “It is impossible to exit the freeway and not see this building standing large, perched over Silicon Slopes,” said Jared Francom, Project Director for Okland Construction. “It stands apart by location, approach and visibility.” The building, owned by Woodley Real Estate, came with a price tag of around $25 million. In addition to the ownership group, tenants include Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, Solidarity Capital, Paramount and family offices for both Curt Doman and Todd Pederson, among others. “We have had way more demand than space,” said Eric Woodley, owner/developer. “It certainly stands out and is a unique offering. The offset design really sets it apart from the rest [of the buildings in Silicon Slopes].” According to David Anderson, Design Principal for Babcock Design, the core concept of the building differed significantly from the typical five- and six-story workplace projects his firm has created along the Silicon Slopes stretch of I-15. “On the heels of several projects designed around 100,000-plus-square-feet tech-sector tenants that prioritized efficient floor plates and large-scale shared amenities, this project targeted smaller, high-end user groups with an interest in a refined, iconic space,” Anderson said. “As a result, efforts were made to sculpt a unique exterior form with shifting floor plates cantilevering high above the ground plane, which provided extensive usable outdoor space.” COVID Conundrums The journey from land acquisition in 2020 to certificate of occupancy in 2023 turned out to be no easy feat. Mentally, Wasatch Front residents may be a few years removed from the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic but its architectural impact is still being felt and the Traverse Heights Office Building is a prime example. The project started during the mid- to latter stages of the pandemic in 2021 and was designed amid the challenging fallout of material shortages throughout the building industry. Year-long lead times and cost escalation on structural steel products at the time tilted the design decision toward a post-tensioned concrete structure, Anderson said. But that strategic switch spawned its own set of COVID-created conundrums. “By the time construction ensued, of course, there were concrete shortages throughout the state due to shutdowns of several cement production plants,” Anderson said. “Okland Construction worked miracles to acquire concrete during the shortage and significantly minimized delays in the construction schedule.” Choosing concrete both for the look and the difficulty of procuring steel, Woodley noted that the concrete shortage hit during the mat-footing pour — basically the most inopportune time possible. “It was a nightmare to work through, but we had a great construction team to help us navigate it,” he said. On a positive note, the decision to use post-tensioned concrete affected both the overall form — achieving some dramatic cantilevers in the office space – as well as the feel of the interiors, said Anderson. “Exposed architectural concrete sheer walls and solid concrete slabs created a crisp, smooth and dramatic interior space with exceptionally high ceilings,” he said.

ASLA Pulls Up a Chair

By Taylor Larsen • September 1, 2024
It’s hard to keep track of all the decisions made about the built environment happening in Utah. A new commercial design here, permitting there, and the beginning and end of so much master planning. It’s great for the A/E/C community, certainly, but for Bryce Ward and the other board members at the ASLA Utah Chapter, landscape architecture deserves a seat at the table where those decisions are made. Bringing in their unique point of view, ASLA Utah is aiming to break through the misunderstanding in their field to plan, design, and steward environments across Utah for residents and visitors to thrive. There’s the mission, and there’s the practice. Ward explained that landscape architects are expert generalists, meaning he and his fellow professionals are trained to think beyond the site boundaries. “Buildings are part of an elaborate natural and development fabric,” Ward, recently elected Trustee for the ASLA, said. “Landscape architects think through the impacts development has on the built and natural environments.” After all, their work is much more than shrubs, benches, and a walking path. The plan is in motion to build toward a cohesive whole, where every facet of the built environment is considered—with landscape architecture joining the party and improving projects across the state. For Lars Erickson, ASLA Utah President-Elect, the matter is one of dollars and cents in a straightforward equation: clients that value and pay for good design get greater value in their projects. “Even the simplest of landscape projects can create greater value for our environment with a little more effort,” Erickson said.

Big Plans on Campus

By B. Garn • September 1, 2024
Students at Utah’s higher education campuses this fall likely found themselves navigating around construction fencing or finding once familiar pathways to class temporarily blocked as concrete trucks rumbled by and tower cranes cast shadows across campus. From the new buildings for the University of Utah’s School of Medicine that are reshaping the upper campus of the state’s flagship university to plans for a major campus expansion at Utah Tech University (UTU) in St. George, a surge of projects planned and funded several years ago are now taking shape on university campuses from Logan to St. George.

Precast Market Ready to Take Off in Utah

By Taylor Larsen • September 1, 2024
It’s not rocket science. According to Kevin Martin, Geneva Pipe & Precast’s General Manager for the Orem office, precast concrete is a simple, albeit different, solution for a construction problem. “We’re still building a metal cage and building a mold and putting concrete around it,” he said. Simple, sure, but effective. With a huge concrete market to capture, expanding infrastructure with new and growing communities, and a broken labor market showing no signs of repair, the trajectory for precast is upward and onward as the new year approaches. No Rest for Precast Each of those interviewed spoke to how there is not just an insatiable demand for precast in Utah, but that they regularly field calls from out of state to supply jobs across the West. As a byproduct, one trend that may be gone forever is the winter slowdown, especially as development ticks up across the state. Said Martin, “We used to use the winter months to build up inventory, but the new way of doing things is putting pressure on us to keep production high year-round.” Demand for neighborhood infrastructure products is here to stay, especially for growing cities around the state. Developments are popping up across Utah County in Lehi, Saratoga Springs, and Eagle Mountain, as well as an exploding demand from the southward development in places like Payson, Santaquin, and even Benjamin, nestled snugly just south of Spanish Fork. Precast, those interviewed said, is ready to meet it with pipe, box culvert, manholes, and more. With expanding development combined with the growing capabilities of precast concrete, "slowdown" might not enter the precast vernacular again. Lee Wegner, Regional Sales Manager for Contech Engineered Solutions, noted the possibilities that opened up with the Latter-day Saint temples in the 2010s changed the game on precast concrete in Utah. High-level detail and molds brought awards and new possibilities, with rope-like features and scalloped corners doing the best impression of skilled masonry work. “Almost every piece was unique,” said Wegner of their work on the Payson Temple. While unique is not the word precasters want to hear in such a standardized process, the pride of seeing what their work accomplished in the final build helped to reimagine what was possible in precast shops. “We’re pushing the envelope a lot more and are much more adaptable to the needs of the market.”

Innovative Infrastructure

By Milt Harrison • August 1, 2024
Crews from Whitaker construction installed a massive 63-inch diameter HDPE pipe for North Davis Sewer District that allows treated and cleaned wastewater to flow to the Great Salt Lake, putting water back into the ecosystem while combatting dropping water levels. (photos courtesy Whitaker Construction)

Brilliantly Executed Spaces and Thinking

By LADD MARSHALL • August 1, 2024
The Intermountain Chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) held its annual BEST Awards competition on May 16 at The Natural History Museum of Utah, with the UVU Sorensen Student Center capturing the "BEST of the BEST" and "BEST Play" categories. BEST stands for Brilliantly Executed Spaces & Thinking, and the IIDA awards are among the most prestigious given to interior design professionals in both residential and commercial markets. An array of unique projects were submitted, projects that go beyond painting a pretty picture while truly encompassing great design in function, form, and style. IIDA Intermountain recognizes that successful interior design requires a collaboration of many disciplines including consultant teams, project managers, vendors, contractors, and more. These awards are a celebration of that collaboration and of dynamic overall design happening throughout the Intermountain region.
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