Pub. 2 2021-2022 Issue 1

24 REFLEXION | 2021-22 | AIA Utah 877-696-3742 toll-free epicmetals.com Jackie Fuller Elementary School, Aubrey, Texas Products: Envista F7.5A, Colony Maple Architect: Huckabee, Austin, Texas Envista ® Roof and Floor Deck Ceiling Systems Envista FA Timberlok ® provides the structural support and fire resistance of steel roof deck panels while providing the warm appearance of natural wood. Envista offers four wood grain finish options, superior acoustic properties, and long spans up to 36´. What do you think is the best building in Utah? The best building in Utah is the Capitol. Richard Kletting did a great job. What criteria would you apply to be a “good building”? To go into a building and know where you are, and to feel good is at the heart of it, and if you can’t do that, and there are buildings that I think you can’t do that, you have missed the point. Energy has become important, but it’s not everything. You can’t tell people to feel good because the energy bills are low. Everything is to feel good; it is to want to go back. Everything is to say, why don’t we just sit here and look at this thing. There is a wonderful addition that Renzo Piano did the Morgan Library in New York City. I could go there and just sit all day. What makes it so wonderful? It is full of natural light. I think natural light and the play of light across surfaces: white is never white; it is always close. Most of my buildings are transparent in one way or another. My inclination is to keep things as open as possible. I didn’t start out that way. I have learned a lot since I started in architecture. I was so naïve when I started. How so? Because I didn’t have any experience. I can remember a time when I would go to see potential clients, and I would say I did  — continued from page 23 Frank Ferguson Video Interview this job at the U and I did this project at the U in Minnesota. I had nothing to show people. Those are short meetings. But then along came a guy with Salt Lake County who believed in us, gave us a real project. There is nothing like designing something then having to build it, and like it. I have buildings that I fouled up, and I have buildings that I feel good about too. If you were going to give advice to a young architect, what would it be? Get out of town. My exit from Salt Lake City to the Midwest, to Europe, to San Francisco, to California. Gee, what a difference it made. You are not going to get the opportunities. I would say get out of town, somehow. And come back? Oh, like me, I came back. I did architecture in the Midwest for a while. Gee, I wouldn’t want to do that for a lifetime. b