8 REFLEXION | 2021-22 | AIA Utah When did you decide to become an architect? I was attending the University of Utah, and I was thinking I was going to be an engineer. And I didn’t like that, and I didn’t do very well in the math. I took a class in History of Architecture, and I was just fascinated. So you enrolled in Architecture School and graduated, then what happened? I enrolled in architecture school and graduated from the University of Utah in 1971. I was in the last group of people who got a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture; five years of architecture, and we got a bachelor’s degree. Then I decided, I Myron Richardson, AIA Interviews with Local Legends Brixen and Christopher Architects was a well-respected firm from 1963 through 2015. Founded by Jim Christopher and Marty Brixen, the firm was known for its use of concrete and natural light. Myron Richardson joined the firm in the 1970s and, after Brixen’s retirement, became Jim Christopher’s partner and later the President of the firm. A gentle soul, Myron became the standard-bearer of Jim Christopher’s philosophy that architecture is about the people who inhabit it. guess I better look for a job. I went to San Francisco because that is where I wanted to go and work. I spent a number of days looking up every architect I could find. Nobody had any work, and they were all telling me how they had just let X number of people go. So that didn’t go anywhere. I came back to Salt Lake City, and I decided there was only one firm in Salt Lake City that I would really like to work for, and that was Brixen and Christopher. Why was that the case? I loved the work that they did. I had been up to see Snowbird beginning to go together, and I had seen some of their other buildings, and I knew Jim Christopher because he taught a class at the University. I just decided I wanted to work for these guys. So I walked in there. No resume, nothing. I had some photographs of some projects I had done in school. I said, “I wanna work for you.” And how did that go? It must have gone pretty well since you made a career of it. It went quite interestingly. Jim Christopher said, “I’ll get back to you.” He talked to a friend, Stan Crawley, who taught Structures at the University of Utah. And Stan Crawley said, “Myron Richardson, he is a pain in the ass, but I think you should hire him.” That’s how I got the job. Brixen and Christopher is the only place I ever worked as an architect. I spent my entire career there, kind of working up through the ranks and eventually, I took over the place. Tell us about Jim Christopher Jim Christopher was one of the truly finest people I have ever known. He was nice, kind. He was dedicated. He believed in architecture, but he also believed in people. His theory he taught me: “Architecture is for people; buildings house human beings, and you should make the buildings good for the people who are in it, not just because you like it.” And that really stuck with me. It just happened at one point Jim Christopher’s partner, Marty Brixen retired, and Jim — Chris, we all called him Chris — said, “You wanna be my partner?” And I said, “You bet.” As Chris
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