You studied architecture at the University of Utah and taught design there from 1964 to 1967. You also had an apprenticeship with John Sugden. What were the most important things you learned as part of your university education and apprenticeship? I entered college in 1949. Although this was the mid-20th century, it was early enough to have professors from the École des Beaux-Arts, who were well versed in classical architecture, and some influenced by the German Bauhaus, who were modernists. Gaining an appreciation for history, classical architecture, and modernism was important and remains important to my practice and teaching. In my undergraduate years, I also studied other disciplines, including music, art history and English literature. I believe these other disciplines broadened my outlook. Due to financial constraints, I left college before obtaining my degree. In 1952 I met John Sugden, a Mies van der Rohe protégé. I served a 12-year apprenticeship with John, then took the architectural registration exams to become a licensed architect. Through my apprenticeship with Sugden, I learned the exacting discipline of the Miesian way. Mentors have been a key part of my education and professional life. My mentors were John Sugden, Robert Bliss, the Dean of Architecture at the University of Utah; his wife Anna Campbell Bliss, a distinguished artist; and Dan Kiley, a celebrated landscape architect. The opportunity to work with such great people was most important to my education, and I feel blessed to have known them. John Sugden frequently quoted Mies and talked about his discipline. Mies said, “It doesn’t matter how well you do the wrong thing.” But how do you know what the right thing is? You have to understand what is appropriate. That’s not so easy. In any setting, philosophy is important if you want to be good at what you do. How did your work as a professor at several different universities help you as an architect? My teaching career started in 1964 before I had a degree or was licensed, which is quite unusual. As a teaching associate at the University of Utah, my own education continued by being associated with distinguished faculty and visiting professors and practitioners such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller. One of these visiting practitioners was Dan Kiley, from Vermont, with whom I became a partner from 1967 through 1971. Being a member of Snowbird Design Group and the original architect for Snowbird, I returned to Utah in 1971 to complete my work on the Snowbird Ski Resort. I believe that teaching and practice are symbiotic. Practice keeps the academic side well-grounded in reality, and teaching keeps — continued on page 22 Kanzan House - Photo by Gabe Border 21
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