If you were to take a quick look around Sparano + Mooney’s Salt Lake City office, there are a few things that immediately stand out about the space. We work in a converted industrial building with an open floorplan, strategic architectural embellishments have been added to the frame of the building, but very little has been done to the existing concrete floors and cinderblock walls. Individual work spaces comprised of sleek wooden furniture are situated along the walls, while a main counter where our team frequently gathers for meetings runs down the center of the main office space. In a word, our office is “modern.”
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The moment is finally upon us! Sparano + Mooney Architecture’s re-design of the museum building for the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (NEHMA) in Logan, Utah is now open. NEHMA celebrated its grand re-opening last weekend, and our architects were honored to be in attendance. It was an incredible night filled with live music, gallery talks, fantastic artwork, great company and a tour of the museum architecture, of course! The current exhibit, Collecting on the Edge: Part 1 is on display now through December 15, and we must say – it is extraordinary. Collecting on the Edge: Part 2 will be showing next year January 17 through May 4. Collecting on the Edge features the work of 172 artists west of the Mississippi River since 1920.
Read MoreKlaus Biesenbach, the former director of MoMA PS1 in New York City, and Chief Curator at Large of MoMA, will become the new director of one of our architectural clients, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Biesenbach reveals, “It is humbling to be invited to lead a museum that has already achieved so much, and that in so many ways represents the highest aspirations of contemporary art.”
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As residents of Park City for over a decade, Ken and Julie Chahine were ready for an architect to design their dream mountain home. The Chahine’s knew exactly what they wanted – modern architecture, sustainable design and energy efficient systems. Although modern homes in a mountain setting are still the exception, this is exactly what the couple was interested in pursuing. Julie has her own interior design business, J Squared Interiors, and the couple had been developing their style and design ideas over many years.
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In July of 1957, residents of Los Angeles placed a time capsule in the Fort Moore Memorial monument. Almost 60 years later to the day, a time capsule was discovered in the flag pole base during the Fort Moore Memorial Restoration project the architects at Sparano + Mooney Architecture are currently working on.
A letter from the former president of San Francisco State College, Dr. Glenn Dumke, proposed a time capsule and a list of items to be included, but it was uncertain whether this was ever done. What a great surprise to discover the time capsule existed! Staff from the Department of Public Works and the Arts Commission found the time capsule. Art Conservator, Donna Williams, says it is unclear whether the items in the capsule are the items that were originally proposed.
Read MoreLocated on the quiet, secluded island of San Giorgio Maggiore lies the Vatican’s entry to this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale - bringing quite the transformation to the event. For one, this is the Vatican’s first entry into an architectural exhibition of this scale. Secondly, entries to the Architecture Biennale are usually models, renderings, and sketches of the building process by architects, while the Vatican’s entry is comprised of 10 built chapels. Professor Francesco Dal Co, the curator, was the driving force of the Vatican choice to pursue these built works as opposed to entering renderings. We hope architectural tourists reading this will have a chance to visit this year’s Biennale and see these spaces.
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Have you picked up the latest issue of Utah Style & Design? If so, you may be joining us in our delight at seeing another one of our Park City houses land the cover! Sparano + Mooney is thrilled to once again be a part of this remarkable design and lifestyle magazine. The article entitled, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, written by Natalie Taylor and photographed by Scot Zimmerman, showcases this home design nestled at the base of Park City, “where breathtaking nature, expressive materials and eclectic elements drive the compelling design.” Characteristic to Utah Style & Design, the pages are filled with full-page colorful photos, including those of this Thaynes Canyon home’s architecture and interiors, which showcases the owner’s personal artwork and style.
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With an anticipated occupancy in the early fall; all exterior materials are nearing completion and the focus is shifting to interior finishes. We are very pleased with how the exterior wood cladding is coming together on site and the relationship it has to the textural boards from concrete. The interior cabinetry is currently in production and we look forward to seeing the relationship the refined white oak interiors will have in contrast to the rough sawn cedar clad exterior. Next steps include the final finish layer of landscaping to bring the site back to its natural state and reinforce the home's relationship to this beautiful setting.
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Without doubt, the Sparano + Mooney Architecture team are talented, driven, and creative. We work hard to deliver thoughtful design solutions to our clients, not to mention our commitment to an exceptional client experience and harnessing first-rate business acumen. Of course, our Salt Lake City and Los Angeles architects are highly skilled at turning numerous iterations of ideas and sketches into renders and plans. Putting pen, pencil and brush to paper is a key aspect of our practice and drawing skills are essential to the profession. But did you know that our team member Camille Erickson, head of Accounting and Human Resources, also produces beautiful paintings and is an enormously talented artist in her own right? We are astounded by Camille’s talent, and her ability to use both her left and right brain with equal flourish. We interviewed her to discover more about her work.
Read MoreThe 12th Annual Mountain West Arts Conference is happening this week at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City, Utah. It will be a day filled with performances, design exhibits, workshops, speakers and networking. Kevin Kling will be the keynote speaker addressing his audience on The Healing Power of Story.
We're proud sponsors of this event and are so happy to see members of Utah and the Mountain West's creative community coming together to form connections and help sustain the arts!
Read MoreChicago may be known as the Windy City, but for architecture aficionados, the metropolis is a veritable treasure trove of world-renowned architectural gems. From historic structures including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House (1910), Mies van der Rohe’s Federal Center complex (1974), and Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City (1964), to more recent structures such as Studio Gang’s Aqua (2009), Chicago boasts numerous architectural landmarks. Though our firm of Salt Lake City and Los Angeles architects are based in the American West, we nevertheless have closely followed the most recent incarnation of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, a showcase of over 140 architects and artists, exhibitions and events across the city, free and open to the public. Hurry! The events come to a close in early January, so if you find yourself in need of inspiration to start the new year, make haste to this cultural hub and take advantage of the truly breathtaking array of architectural wonders on offer.
Read MoreWe would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to our amazing clients, colleagues, consultants and friends during this Festive Season. Happy Holidays and warmest wishes to all for a wonderful New Year!
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Sparano + Mooney Architecture and our team of Los Angeles architects and designers have established a fantastic working relationship with The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, and we were delighted when the institution approached us to provide architectural services and interior remodeling for their latest exhibition of cutting-edge contemporary art, titled Adrián Villar Rojas: The Theater of Disappearance. We have also collaborated with MOCA on acclaimed shows by Matthew Barney and of works from the 1990s at the museum, and were more than happy to partner on this occasion to bring Villar Rojas’ eclectic and boundary-defying art to The Geffen’s savvy audience.
For this show, Sparano + Mooney Architecture worked with Villar Rojas’ proposed layout for the exhibit, made modifications in order for it to comply with current codes, such as building and fire, and also collaborated with structural engineers to ensure columnar components of the space held up.
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SMA Loves...this view! Taken from a client’s project in Salt Lake City, this image evokes the Roman urban landscape, and we are always seeking new vantages and architectural inspiration!
Read MoreWe would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for our family, friends, colleagues, peers and clients during this Thanksgiving season. THANK YOU to all who enrich our lives – may you enjoy a wonderful day surrounded by those to whom you are most grateful, and may the season inspire us all to give back to our communities in kind. Gobble Gobble!
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At Sparano + Mooney Architecture, we are always in search of creative outlets for our ideas and for new ways to innovate and promote sustainability in architectural practice. Submitting conceptual projects to architectural competitions is just one way that we attempt to advance our critical thinking, and our team of architects and designers recently put forth a tiny house proposal to the Amber Road Trekking Cabins architecture competition, organized by Bee Breeders in association with the Latvia Nature Conservation Agency, which calls for the design of several travelers’ cabins to be situated along the extensive and stunning Amber Road trekking path. The path will run along the beaches of the Baltic Sea, a remote treasure of natural beauty in Northern Europe renowned for the fragments of glowing amber that wash up on the region’s shores. Winning designs will be considered for construction as a means of boosting tourism to Latvia.
Read MoreSparano + Mooney Architecture loves art and culture – and as contemporary architects in Los Angeles, we also adore examples of institutions in this great city that combine these passions and pursuits. Which is why we are crazy about the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center and the treasure trove it offers throughout its sprawling California campus. Housing an expansive collection of European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, photography, textiles and decorative arts created from antiquity to the present, the museum serves diverse local and international audiences and continually offers groundbreaking exhibitions and programming to the public. The Getty Center’s overriding mission is to “inspire curiosity about, and enjoyment and understanding of, the visual arts by collecting, conserving, exhibiting and interpreting works of art of outstanding quality and historical importance”. Now that’s a mission we can support!
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The Utah State University Caine College of the Arts and Daryl Chase Fine Arts Center celebrate a 50 year anniversary this October, and to mark the occasion, we are honored to announce that the Newel and Jean Daines Concert Hall will open its doors after undergoing an extensive renovation and addition! Sparano + Mooney Architecture was integral to the design of the new performing arts facility and we are beyond excited to see our team’s hard work and vision come to life.
Read MoreNow in its seventh year, the 2017 edition of Design Week is opening from October 16th-21st and we can’t wait to take part in this city-wide cultural showcase! As Salt Lake City architects deeply committed to producing, experiencing and inspiring great design, we are excited to check out the creative smorgasbord that this artistic city has to offer during what is sure to be a stellar event. And, we hope to welcome you to our studio on Monday, October 16th from 5:00-6:30pm, for an exhibition of work by University of Utah School of Architecture students, taught by our own Anne Mooney!
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We are excited to report that construction is well underway on the Wabi-Sabi House in Emigration Canyon, Utah! Our Salt Lake City architects and designers have been hard at work in collaboration with our wonderful and inspirational clients, as well as our dedicated team of consultants – including Living Home Construction and Structural Design Studio – to make the dream of a tranquil, mountain modern home a reality.
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