It has been one year since the passing of Jon M. Huntsman Sr., the visionary philanthropist who started a movement that transformed the upper edge of the University of Utah into a state-of-the-art cancer campus.

In his memory, a pillar of light could be seen emanating from the west side of the original HCI research building last night. The feature was originally Huntsman’s idea. As construction of the building was near conclusion in 1999, Huntsman envisioned a light originating from the cancer center that would reflect HCI’s commitment to push forward cancer research and provide exceptional patient care. The light became known as the Beacon of Hope.

Due to limitations in technology available two decades ago, the feature was not continuously lit. Architectural Nexus designed a renovation for the beacon and construction began in January 2018. Over the past twelve months, further improvements were made to update the installation with energy-efficient lighting panels. The new Beacon of Hope has 61 individual lighting panels embedded with pixel LED lights, each with an operating life of 30 years.

Today, the Beacon of Hope serves as a reminder that his vision lives on and will not stop until cancer is eradicated.

A new center designed by Arch Nexus for those who are experiencing homelessness opened this morning in Salt Lake City. The Volunteers of America Center for Women and Children offers women an opportunity to detoxify in a safe and supervised residential environment with their children. The Salt Lake City Center offers 32 new beds that will serve approximately 450 individuals annually. Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County leaders spoke at the event in support of the cause to aid those who will benefit from the new center.

For 2018, ENR Mountain States has awarded two awards to projects designed by Arch Nexus.

Primary Children’s & Families’ Research Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute received a Merit Award in the Higher Education/Research category and Cornerstone at Cottonwood Corporate Center, Phase Two won the Best Project Award in the Office/Retail/Mixed-Use Development Category. Both of these buildings represent many years of had work and collaboration among many stakeholders and we are very proud to have been involved in helping to bring these magnificent projects to reality.

Last night, the National Ability Center in Park City, Utah hosted a ground breaking ceremony to commemorate the beginning of construction on an expansion of their facilities. The existing Equestrian Center is being expanded to create flexible space for the arena to accommodate a wider array of events. This part of the campus will also include additional meeting, staff, and physical therapy space as well as a parent viewing area. Along with the expanded Equestrian Center, a new Recreation Center will be built. The Recreation Center includes an indoor, conditioned arena that will be able to be adapted for a variety of sports.

The National Ability Center empowers individuals of all abilities by building self-esteem, confidence and lifetime skills through sport, recreation and educational programs. We are proud to be a part of helping further the mission of such an inspirational organization.

We are happy to announce that the first registration for a Living Building in Utah has been made! Community Rebuilds, a nonprofit organization, is endeavoring to construct the first series of Living Buildings in Moab, Utah.

The mission of Community Rebuilds, is to build energy efficient housing as well as provide education on sustainability, and improve the housing conditions of the workforce through an affordable program. As a licensed general contractor in Utah and Colorado, Community Rebuilds constructs affordable and energy efficient straw bale homes, working with and training a dedicated group of student intern volunteers on each home project. These students are young emerging professionals with the desire to participate in an experiential program as they learn how to build low carbon, modern natural buildings. For more information on this amazing program please visit the Community Rebuilds website here.

Wish us luck as we begin this journey together with Community Rebuilds to create the first Living Buildings in Utah!

On Saturday, September 15, the USGBC San Francisco chapter will be touring the Arch|Nexus SAC office. If you’ve wanted tour Arch|Nexus SAC, but are unable to do so during the work week, there are still a few spots available for this rare, weekend event. To join us, contact Patty Karapinar at pkarapinar@archnexus.com.

Today, an Arch Nexus team comprised of Kenner Kingston, Peter Moyes, and Patty Karapinar will be conducting a Living Future Symposium in Moab Utah. The event will feature an overview of the Living Building Challenge, along with a case study of Arch Nexus SAC, the first certified Living Building in California. Additionally, participants will be among the first in Utah to be introduced to the Living Community Challenge. This relatively new program applies the regenerative principles of the Living Building Challenge to the community level.

Arch Nexus SAC, the adaptive reuse of a former print shop and warehouse and now home of our Sacramento office has become the first and only LEED Version 4 double Platinum certified project on the planet. This significant achievement was announced by the U.S. Green Building Council at the Green Building Hard Hat Awards hosted by Architectural Nexus, an annual USGBC celebration recognizing key policy leaders who drive forward California’s vision of healthy, efficient and high-performance buildings. 

In 2017 the Arch Nexus SAC team earned LEED Version 4 Platinum certification for New Construction and Major Renovations (LEEDv4 BD+C). This month the project team and building occupants earned LEED Version 4 Platinum certification for Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance (LEEDv4 EBOM). Different from LEED for New Construction, LEED EBOM requires teams to demonstrate actual performance by providing utility bills and other documents.

Platinum is the highest certification level in the LEED green building rating system. The current LEEDv4, is appreciably more difficult to achieve than the previous versions of LEED and raises the bar for LEED certification of the design, construction and operation of high performance buildings. “What in the former LEED version 3.0 would have been a LEED Platinum building would now be a LEED Gold building under LEED version 4.0”, says Patty Karapinar, Director of Sustainability at Architectural Nexus. Arch Nexus utilized the new Arc platform for its LEEDv4 EBOM submittal, a state of the art platform for visualizing and comparing the metrics and effectiveness of green building strategies and improvements over time.

The Arch | Nexus SAC Arc Dashboard utilized for tracking and visualizing performance of various sustainable metrics.

Brian Cassil, Director of Communications for Arch Nexus notes that “Through our experience with designing and occupying our own office in Salt Lake City, we knew that occupant engagement would be a critical aspect to achieving the verifiable performance needed for LEED for Exising Buildings and Operations in our Sacramento office. It was to ensure that we achieved our performance goals that we developed and employed the InHABIT platform”. InHABIT is a training platform that Arch Nexus developed in partnership with Sustain3 that “game-ifies” sustainable practices to create a culture of stewardship within an organization. Through use of InHABIT Arch Nexus’s occupants became the high performance occupants needed to keep a high performance building operating as designed. Without engaged occupants, it would be impossible to reach and maintain the highest levels of sustainability possible over the building’s life.

In May of 2018 Arch Nexus SAC became the first Living Building in California to be certified by the International Living Future Institute. Like LEED EBOM, Living Building certification requires proven performance. Arch Nexus President Kenner Kingston comments that “Many LEED buildings under-perform as compared to the optimistic energy models that are generated during design, but the pursuit of performance-based certifications such as Living Building and LEED EBOM help to create a realistic environment in which to test high-performance design ideas. What’s more, they prove that they actually work.”

Groundbreaking for the new Draper Recreation Center took place on Thursday, June 21. Architects and designers from Arch Nexus are working to ensure that the 60,000 square foot facility fosters an energetic space that is appealing to all ages, all year. In addition to being designed for LEED gold certification, the center will feature a competition pool, a leisure pool, connectivity to the existing outdoor pool, fitness and multi-use facilities, a party room, and a fieldhouse.

According to Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, the rec center will be affordable for everyone. “It will be facilities like this one …as we build out a network of recreational opportunities that will help our residents to be active and get out and enjoy this community” stated McAdams. The facility is expected to be completed by 2020.