The Studio City Recreation Center Gymnasium in Beeman Park, located in Studio City, California will be Los Angeles’s first Net-Zero Energy pilot project. Designed by Sparano + Mooney Architecture to LEED-certified specifications, the new 12,000 SF facility will be an immeasurable asset to the neighborhood and community, and will also demonstrate the feasibility of designing self-sustaining energy efficient municipal buildings. The project scope replaces an inefficient recreation building with the construction of new, state of the art modern architecture. The recreation center will include a full-size basketball court, multipurpose meeting rooms for the community, office and administration areas, a kitchen, restrooms and support facilities. The project scope also includes security lighting, a parking area, new landscaping and irrigation for the park. With a projected total construction cost of $7M, the gymnasium will be ready for public use and exceed of code requirements for Net-Zero Energy.
Read More“It’s mainly tacos and stray dogs and really nice people”, observes Sojourner Truth Parsons, a painter who occupies a light-filled loft in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights district. Parsons is part of a new crop of achingly cool artists, designers, gallery owners, collectors and culture vultures who are moving to downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District – a cluster of forbidding, abandoned factories and warehouses, industrial spaces, parking lots, strip malls, concrete and barbed wire. The area is scrappy, desolate, and ripe for reinvention as the city’s prime arts and culture hotspot. It is also home to Sparano + Mooney Architecture where we have been based for almost 20 years.
Read More
At Sparano + Mooney Architecture, we like to recognize the hard work our team members invest in advancing architecture and design. With this appreciation in mind, we extend a big congratulations to Anne Mooney, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, who has been recognized as the 2016 Professor of the Year in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah! Anne is a principal and the co-founder of Sparano + Mooney Architecture, and is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture where she teaches applied research design studios and courses in theory and professional practice.
Read MoreSparano + Mooney Architecture is pleased to help support the Topaz Museum and Education Center in its fundraising effort. In this season of summer travel, if you find yourself in the Bay Area we invite you to join virtuoso trumpeter Mark Inouye from the San Francisco Symphony and the Friends of Topaz for an evening of Mark Inouye & Friends in Concert. The event will be held on Sunday, July 10th, 2016 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
For several years, Mark has been on a journey – to discover all he could about his father, Takara Steve Inouye. This path led him to the Topaz Internment Camp outside of Delta, Utah, where his father was incarcerated during World War II with 11,000 others. His father’s only crime? Being Japanese American. Thanks to Mark’s generosity and commitment to raising awareness of this injustice, all proceeds from the benefit concert will be donated to help create new exhibits at the Topaz Museum.
Read More
The Caine School of the Arts at Utah State University was first established in 2005. It became the Caine College of the Arts in 2010, with its own dean, Dr. Craig Jessop, and recognized degree programs for students in the design, theater, and music arts. Today the college is well known not only for its student body but also for the architecture that comprises the college campus. Sparano + Mooney Architecture is thrilled to be part of a campus-wide renovation project that will completely transform the Caine College of the Arts.
Read More
Residential architecture in Salt Lake City is both intriguing and exciting at the same time. The city has a lot of great neighborhoods that, through the course of time and gentrification, have become a great place for us to live and work within. One example is the Central Ninth neighborhood close to the center of the city. We have had opportunities to work in this eclectic urban zone, including a recent project for which we designed a mixed-use housing project that combines the best in urban living with an inviting retail and public space.
We appreciate the opportunity to work on mixed-use projects such as this one because we know how important they are to metropolitan Salt Lake City. As a city with a strong and vibrant population of young professionals, Salt Lake City is one of the best places to live and work in the American West. Our urban zones that are being developed like the Central Ninth are a big part of that. Having an opportunity to contribute to urban zone developments has been an exciting challenge for Sparano + Mooney Architecture and one that we are happy to participate in as we create design solutions for these districts.
Read MoreSustainable design and Salt Lake City go together like coffee and donuts. Salt Lake City is a perfect environment for sustainable architecture because of our unique climate that is part semiarid and part continental, depending on whose scale you want to use. Our geography doesn't hurt either. We have all the right ingredients in Salt Lake City to test and develop sustainable technologies that will drive the architectural design of the future.
At the foundation of sustainable design are five basic principles as outlined by the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Needless to say that sustainable architecture is about more than just saving energy and improving insulation. It is about making the best use of our resources without needless waste or environmental damage.
Without further delay, here are the five foundational principles of sustainable architecture and design:
Read MoreIt's a dream come true: owning a beautiful vacation home that has direct access to the Park City Mountain Resort in northwest Utah. The Park City architects at Sparano + Mooney Architecture recently had the opportunity to make that dream a reality for a professional couple and their children. They hired us to design a modern vacation home that fits well in the mountain context, provided a comfortable and inspiring living environment, and met their goals of sustainability and environmental friendly architecture.
The design we came up with exceeded the expectations of everyone involved. From city planners in Park City to neighbors to the owners themselves, everyone our team had the opportunity to work with has contributed to the extraordinary result. Our client now has a beautifully crafted and highly functional vacation home where they can spend time in relaxing and enjoying all that Park City has to offer.
Read MoreFrom mid-September 2015 through mid-January 2016, visitors to the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) were treated to an extraordinary exhibit from eclectic American artist Matthew Barney. Architects Sparano + Mooney was thrilled to be part of the exhibit, having designed the theater space that housed the biggest draw among Barney fans: an epic six-hour film entitled River of Fundament. From our perspective, the Barney project was a perfect fit for our team.
We appreciate the work of Matthew Barney for its provocative and envelope-pushing nature. For those who know nothing of this artist, Barney is hard to pin down. His art covers multiple mediums including sculpture, drawing, photography, film, and even performance art. All of these are combined in River of Fundament, which might just be Barney's most ambitious project. Having the opportunity to be part of the exhibit at MOCA was truly an honor for us.
Read MoreArchitecture has led us to collaborate with a wild array of artists, design projects and exhibitions. One of which is aimed at exploring the social complexity and dynamics of America in the 1990s. The exhibition is titled Don’t Look Back: The 1990s at MOCA and opens March 12 and runs until July 11 at the Geffen Contemporary at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. We hope you get a chance to visit and tell us what you think!
Read MoreOur architectural team is fortunate to work with the most inspiring clients in the region. One of these monumental talents is Dr. Craig Jessop, Dean of Utah State University’s Caine College of the Arts. Jessop will be in Salt Lake City this weekend conducting an ensemble for the Madeleine Choir School’s 20th-anniversary celebration Sunday March 6th at 8pm at the Cathedral of the Madeleine with a performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers. We are sure this performance will be fabulous under Dean Jessop’s direction!
Utah State University Caine College of the Arts, Madeleine Choir School Events
Read More
The University of Utah is a world-class research institution with a reputation for promoting sustainable design. In 2011, the University was ranked third among all similar institutions in the country for green power consumption by the EPA. As a pioneer of sustainable design in Salt Lake City ourselves, we understand the University of Utah's commitment to sustainability and renewable energy. It is with that in mind we are proud to announce that our very own Anne Mooney will be addressing students at the University as part of the 2016 School of Architecture Lecture Series.
Anne's presentation will take place on Friday, February 26 at 4 PM. She will be joining two other important architectural voices in addressing students at the College of Architecture and Planning during the three-lecture series of 2016.
Read More
Sparano + Mooney is extremely proud to announce that we are winners of the 2015 Religious Architecture Award, a prestigious international award given annually by the American Institute of Architects Interfaith Forum on Art and Architecture. Our architectural design work is featured in the current issue of Faith and Form magazine’s annual awards issue. Our reputation for contemporary architecture in Salt Lake City is one of the things that helped us secure the contract to design the award-winning St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church facilities in West Jordan. It has been quite a project.
For the benefit of our readers, we wanted to take the opportunity of winning the Faith and Form award to explain some of the unique challenges of designing religious architecture. As you might expect, religious architecture is different in a number of different ways. The three biggest challenges we face on these kinds of projects are as follows:
Read MoreCNN Style contributor Tish Wrigley recently authored a fascinating article about photography and architecture. It was published on the CNN website on January 5 of this year (2016). In the piece, Wrigley detailed how a skilled photographer can do for architecture what even the best architects cannot do for themselves: make their work travel. The piece is well worth the read if you are interested in knowing what can happen when architecture and photography meet for the purposes of creating art.
Both mediums are art forms in and of themselves. We know that. Whether we are designing commercial architecture in Salt Lake City or a residential project on the other side of the state, we know that what we design will speak volumes about our firm and the communities we serve. Likewise, photographers have similar experiences. The work they create tells the world who they are as artists, yet it also brings to life subject matter that viewers may have no other means of experiencing. When you put the two together, the results can be absolutely incredible.
Read MoreAt Sparano + Mooney Architecture, we are full-fledged supporters of sustainable design. Salt Lake City mostly agrees with this philosophy as well, but perhaps only in principle. When it actually comes to purchasing a new home designed around sustainability principles, those principles may no longer be so important. And unfortunately, it frequently boils down to money. We have created a system of assembly-line home building in North America and Europe that makes it possible to erect massive volumes of new homes at affordable prices. But this practice could be the biggest hindrance to sustainability in the long run.
Read More
Come one come all to a Women in Architecture New Years Resolution Spectacular. Join us tonight, the 8th at Sparano + Mooney Architecture from 6 - 8pm. Plenty of drinks, petite bites, conversation and good people. We hope to see you there!
Read More
We are honored to have our design for Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church be recognized by Faith and Form Magazine and The AIA Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture as one of the architects who are a national recipient of a 2015 Religious Architecture Award. This design award recognizes exemplary sacred spaces of all denominations throughout the world. Check out this year’s architecture at Archdaily.
Read MoreHappy New Year from all of us at Sparano + Mooney Architecture! Here are 10 simple life changes we can do to help reduce emissions, promote healthier environments and lives in 2016.
Read MoreThere is no shortage of contemporary architecture in Utah. For example, the famous John Sugden houses in Salt Lake City and Park City are some of the finest examples of modern residential architecture in the state. Even our very own green Maryfield home, which is the first LEED-certified home (LEED Silver) in Utah, is further solidifying the Beehive State as one of the most important places to be if you are interested in modern design. So why is it so difficult to convince the general public that contemporary architecture can be both beautiful and environmentally and structurally sound?
We are fully convinced that architecture is more than just another construction process. It is an art form by which talented artists - architects can incorporate function, form and beauty into a single package for either residential or commercial purposes. You might even say that architecture is a lot like the human body inasmuch as there are external parts you do not see covered by the beautiful exterior you do see. When done right, the resulting structure is both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally sound.
Read MoreIn the small central French city of Claremont-Ferrand is a fascinating building with a storied history dating back more than 80 years. The structure is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and a beautiful park, making the ground on which it sits more peaceful than one might expect for such a magnificent structure. And now this building, which was once a 1930s era sanatorium, has been repurposed by a renowned French architecture firm for future architects.
Paris-based architectural firm Du Besset-Lyon was commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture to find a way to repurpose the aging building that had fallen into disrepair in recent years. After an initial study, the firm decided it was the perfect structure for a new architecture school run by the Ministry. Upon completion, it would be the latest in a series of 20 schools throughout France that teach young emerging architects the skills they need to create the design of the future.
Read More