At first, Salt Lake was largely a small CA outpost, and design work came out of Dallas, but Michael Vela was dedicated to making the Utah office a viable local business. There was organic growth spurred by his knowledge and investment in the community. He taught and recruited from the University of Utah. Michael sat on Salt Lake’s Historic Landmark Commission, Utah Fire Uniform Building Commission and the Board of the Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He chased Utah work, was able to secure it by complementing his personal resume with local experience and a national portfolio. Michael and the key staff he hired over time — including Emir Tursic — grew HKS Salt Lake from a small satellite office into a full-service design firm that delivers hospitality, commercial and cultural projects that are changing the fabric of the Salt Lake City downtown. One of the biggest misperceptions about HKS Salt Lake is that it is still a Utah storefront for a global firm. Emir said, “We really think of ourselves as a local firm with a global reach. Most employees come from Utah, and many are University of Utah graduates. They pride themselves on being part of the community, which inherently makes us a local company. We are very embedded in the community. The big difference is that we are part of a bigger whole with a depth of expertise and an ability to work at all scales.” HKS has a reputation for doing mostly large projects. Certainly, there are a fair share of high-profile projects in Utah with HKS’ name attached to them: Wells Fargo, the Eccles Theatre (a collaboration with Caesar Pelli), the Capitol Theatre Remodel and Jessie Eccles Quinney Dance Centre, Brigham Young University Music Building, Astra Tower and Union Station Hotel, among many others. However, the studio also does a lot of different scaled projects: the Edison House, the Fourth Street Clinic and even single-room remodels. The firm has a public-interest initiative called Citizen HKS which allows it to dedicate company time and resources to help communities in need all over the world. 11
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