Shigeru Ban was just named the 37th winner of the Pritzker Prize in architecture this month. Although we are long-time fans of Ban, he has chosen to remain under the radar for much of his career, focusing on serving needy communities and building non-permanent structures -often with paper. Ban has developed innovative techniques to create shelters for disaster relief and crisis areas, as well as amazing homes and churches, some meant to last only for a short duration and then be recycled. What do you think of Ban’s approach to temporal architecture and materials?
Read MoreSparano + Mooney Architecture is hiring! We are currently seeking a talented, dedicated and well-rounded Project Architect in our Salt Lake City office to work in our fast-paced, intensely creative and collaborative environment. For more details about this opportunity visit our website at http://www.sparanomooney.com/firm_news.php . If you have 8+ years experience and are willing to go to extreme lengths to realize great design for awesome clients contact us at careers@sparanomooney.com.
Read MoreIn a look at the secret “University” for Apple employees, this reporter stumbled upon the significance of Pablo Picasso’s lithographs and how they are being used as a tool to teach innovative product design. Journalist Shane Snow expands on this idea and teaches us what we can take away from Picasso’s art and philosophy to inform the design process.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140814190016-7374576-5-innovation-and-life-lessons-from-picasso
Read MoreFollowing up our theme of the new Topaz Museum, opening later this year, we wanted to share this week's NPR interview by Terry Gross with George Takei. Takei touches on his imprisonment in the Japanese internment camps when he was young. He and his family were rounded up by “soldiers with bayoneted rifles” when he was just 5 years old, torn from their home in Los Angeles and spent the next 4 years living behind barbed wire fences in captivity. Takei’s story offers insight ...into his life experiences and this period of our history.
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Sparano + Mooney Architecture was awarded the commission to design the new Topaz Museum and Education Center in Delta, UT last year. This important project is well underway and will provide a location for the stories and artifacts of the internment of our Japanese citizens during WWII. Construction is almost complete and the exhibit installations will begin soon. Once that is finished, the museum will open to the public.
Read MoreIn “By Design | The Franchising of Architecture”, Witold Rybczynski asks the important question of whether or not the globalization of architecture is a good thing. Architecture as a social art serves as a reflection of a society and its values. We see architectural culture as heavily influenced by the global, but the real opportunities for invention lie in the way architecture responds to the local.
Read MoreThe Governor has declared April 27-May 3 Architecture Week in Utah. The theme of this week long event is This is where we live, inviting the public to explore great built work within their neighborhood and urban environments. Sparano + Mooney Architecture is included in this year's program as the public is invited to tour Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church located at 7405 Redwood Road on Saturday, May 3 from 2-3PM. We hope you will join us for this exciting event.
http://utahcfa.org/ucfa-launches-architecture-week/
Read MoreArtist JR creates “pervasive art that spreads uninvited on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East, on the broken bridges in Africa or the favelas in Brazil”. SMA came across his Women Are Heroes street art in Kibera, Kenya and we wanted to share the overwhelming nature of JR’s large-format pieces. He covered 22,000 SF of rooftops with the eyes and faces of the women living in the Kibera slum. JR’s art is powerful, crossing political and international boundaries—earning him recognition, including the 2011 TED prize. We hope you enjoy looking at these awe-inspiring projects.
http://www.jr-art.net/projects/women-are-heroes-africa
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Our friends at CityHome Collective have posted a beautiful article on Saint Joseph the Worker Church which was designed by Sparano + Mooney Architecture. Saint Joseph is a 23,000 SF contemporary church located in Utah that we recently finished. We wanted to share the images they have taken and hope that you get to know one of our favorite projects.
http://cityhomecollective.com/divine-design-st-joseph/
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Sparano + Mooney Architecture invites you to the closing reception for the No One Site exhibition, curated by Anne, that has been on display at The Leonardo Museum. Please join us Friday at 6PM at the Ladies Literary Club (850 S Temple) to take part in this ongoing conversation on art and architecture borne of the Mountain West.
Read MoreThe Sparano + Mooney Architecture team invites our friends to visit the James Turrell exhibit at LACMA before it ends next month. The Retrospective examines Turrell's 50+ year career with 11 installation rooms of light, space and movement, each more immersive and head-spinning than the last. We hope you get a chance to visit this perception altering exhibit. ENJOY….
Read MoreOn February 13, 2014 the 4th Annual Mayor’s Symposium will take place at The Leonardo Museum in downtown, Salt Lake City. Anne Mooney and John Sparano will be presenting under the category of exemplars, on the topic of “Mountain Modernism” during this all day event. Immediately following the conference at 5:30PM is the opening of the Mountain Modern architectural exhibition, No One Site, Anne helped to curate. Please join us for this free opening reception in celebration of architecture in the American West.
Read MoreAll of us at Sparano + Mooney hope your 2014 is off to a great start. John found this story by Gideon Amichay, the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of No, No, No, No, No, Yes Creative Boutique, to be charming and a great way to ring in the New Year. It is Amichay’s personal tale on how perseverance over time can make dreams come true.
