Try exploring some interesting architecture during your travels this summer. Photos by Scot Zimmerman.
It’s spring, and freak snowstorms and icy roads are a thing of the past. And what does that mean for me and many, if not most of my fellow Utahns? It’s time to hit the road! For those of you explorers and adventurers, I would like to suggest enhancing your travels by taking in a little of the local architecture.
Some people ramp up architectural tourism. They are devoted to architecture and will plan trips and vacations around seeing and touring specific architecture and informing themselves about an architect’s body of work. I may somewhat fall into this category when it comes to Frank Lloyd Wright. I’ll give you a taste for touring Wright’s architecture.
The opening shot is the Marin County Civic Center, one of the final projects designed by America’s master architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Driving north of San Francisco about 20 minutes after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, it can be seen on the east side of Highway 101. It’s a public building that has tours available.
The VC Morris Gift shop building is a commercial property on Maiden Lane in San Francisco in the Union Square shopping district. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, there are strong similarities with the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
This is Taliesin West, the winter campus of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is open to tours.
In the social space of Taliesin West, you can appreciate how Wright experimented and developed new approaches to design and materials in his own winter headquarters.
The construction of Taliesin East in Spring Green, Wisconsin, began just after the turn of the 20th Century and you can see elements from the Prairie School. The Fellowship travelled north when the weather warmed in Arizona to Wright’s home state of Wisconsin.
Taliesin school was a work study environment where the students rolled up their sleeves for daily chores. This elegant building at Taliesin East is the pig barn.
Of course, architecture can be appreciated much more casually, and I would like you to take a gander at some of Utah’s interesting buildings.
One of the top buildings on most people’s list when I ask what Utah architecture they find to be interesting is the Adobe headquarters in Lehi, which you can see on the east side of the Interstate.
Its bold, sweeping, cantilevered forms seem to capture the excitement of the burgeoning Silicone Slopes. Architect: WRNS, San Francisco.
Another people’s favorite is the glass and steel federal courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City designed by Thomas Phifer, FAIA, Thomas Phifer and Partners, New York City and Salt Lake’s NWL Architects. This is a long view to show how it fits into the skyline.
Here is a closer view so you can appreciate the detailing and how it reflects the sky.
When I last photographed the courthouse, security limited access. I am not certain if you can enter and tour now, but here’s a detail of the stairway.
The recently completed Asher Adams Hotel is quickly becoming everyone’s top destination to show off Salt Lake City’s sophistication to visitors. The lobby occupies the beautifully restored Union Pacific Depot across from the Delta Center.
The Asher Adams exterior proudly proclaims its historic Union Pacific heritage. The new curving tower peeks out over the left side of the original structure. Architecture: HKS Architects, Salt Lake City and JNS Architects, Denver.
There is plenty more to see. Utah is architecturally rich. If you like historical architecture, Preservation Utah is a good starting place to find tours and resources. May is Preservation Utah’s big month, and the calendar is filled with events. There are also some excellent guidebooks on historical Utah architecture that you can keep handy as you drive around the city and small towns. For exciting contemporary architecture, I will find it my pleasure to continue to share my photos of the interesting projects I get to photograph on these Photo Friday pages. Stay tuned.
