Warren

Taylor Woolley was a native Salt Lake  architect who worked in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park studio and and later at Taliesin in Wisconsin. Woolley travelled with Wright in Europe and contributed to the drawing and production of the Wasmuth Portfolio, a two-volume folio of Wright’s early work,  published in Berlin in 1910.

The Yale Avenue Ray House, built in 1915 was one of Utah’s earliest examples of Prairie Style homes with its extended hipped eaves, horizontal belt course,  and ganged windows. The influence of Wright is unmistakable. The current owners, Mike & Jenny Pulsipher, gave us the challenge and opportunity to design an addition that would respect the original house while providing needed space for their family. The solution included south-facing covered balconies and a new master bedroom over a new family room space, all oriented toward a contained backyard. (more…)

On week one of the Clear The Air Challenge we at Lloyd Architects are re-connecting with our bike-friendly streets.  I am glad to have 600 East on my morning and evening commute path.  Perhaps one of the greenest streets in Salt Lake City, the 9-block stretch of 600 East from South Temple to Liberty Park is a great place to see from a bicycle or on foot. (more…)

Today begins one of the most relevant and enlightening annual activities in Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front that I am personally aware of: the Clear The Air Challenge. For the next four weeks those of us that normally fill Utah’s roads and freeways in single occupant vehicles–generally for good and productive purposes–have an opportunity to evaluate how we get from point A to point B and back. I believe this will be the third year that my office has participated in the challenge. Last year, Lloyd Architects was awarded the Clear The Air Challenge Small Business Award, largely on the backs (or legs) of two of our intrepid team members, Aaron Day & Liz Yonashiro.  They spent much of the month commuting north and south from Davis & Weber Counties via Frontrunner and bicycle. At 37 miles each way, that is a considerable reduction of carbon emissions.

My morning commute is much more modest at about 2.3 miles, basically from Sunnyside Park to Trolley Square. I do find, however, that once at the office with a bike, I can still generally handle my daily trips to my typical destinations: the City/County Building, the AIA Utah office, and our local project sites in the Lower Avenues and over to the Granary District. As we start this year’s challenge, the office crew and I will be tracking miles, but we will also be opening our eyes to see parts of the City that we miss from our windshields. Re-connecting with our city from on foot or on bike may well be a bonus reward, on top of clearer air, stronger legs, and dollars saved at the pump.

Here’s to a healthy challenge!

Advocating sustainability in historic neighborhoods is often like preaching to the choir: the people who live in these neighborhoods have made housing and lifestyle choices that include living on smaller lots and in a smaller building footprint, and the streetscapes favor pedestrians over cars. For much of the last decade, my architectural practice and community service have been focused in the older neighborhoods of Salt Lake that greatly contribute to the vitality and sustainability of the city. Three of these neighborhoods provide an interesting backdrop for a discussion about liveability, adaptability and sustainability.

University

The University District is a group of neighborhoods that, depending on who you ask, would include Douglas, Reservoir Park, East Bryant, part of South Temple and Federal Heights areas. Sharing a common border with the University of Utah, these neighborhoods are blessed by the the richness and diversity of academic circles– as well as the challenges of parking and the transiency of student rental housing. The University and South Temple Historic District provide regulatory review over development and renovations, but community councils have been pushing the City to expand this local historic designation to include several blocks of East Bryant,  an area targeted for multi-family and commercial development expansion in recent years. Bike lanes in the grass median along 200 South are another sure flashpoint in this neighborhood. (more…)