Architectural Nexus is committed to the enhancement of the built environment, especially our impact on human and environmental health for the projects we design and the materials we select. This is why Arch Nexus is one of more than 70 international architects, designers, and partner organizations that are asking for materials transparency, collaboration, and preferable products that support human, climate, ecosystem, and social health.

By signing the Living Product 50 Pledge, other organizations who are interested in working towards building a product industry transformation, can also commit to asking for transparency and better products.

We are using this information to select and specify products by giving preference to those that have:
• Publicly available material ingredient disclosure information.
• Publicly available environmental impact disclosure information.
• Documentation of compliance with strict VOC emissions requirements.
• Proof that they do not contain chemicals of concern identified by the Living Building Challenge Red List, the WELL Building Standard, and the Healthier Hospitals Initiative’s Safer Chemicals Challenge, and/or the Green Science Policy Institute’s Six Classes.

We want the materials used to create our projects to positively impact human health, the climate, the environment, and society. We cannot achieve this goal alone. We must work together as designers, building owners, developers, and contractors to build knowledge and demand. And, of course, your help is crucial, sign the Living Product 50 Pledge today!

Congratulations to Arch Nexus’ Aidan Garrity, the second person in the Intermountain West to become Living Future Accredited. Living Future Accreditation is designed to acknowledge the most advanced and progressive thinking professionals that are working towards a living future. Regarding his achievement, Aiden says I pursued the Living Future Accreditation because architecture is going to have a positive impact on climate change; it will be through the pursuit of built works that do more good, rather than just less bad. I wanted to back up my commitment to creating a future that is socially just and ecologically restorative.
To learn more about becoming Living Future accredited, visit the Living Future accredidation webpage and check out this postcard from the ILFI.

A dynamic team of Architects and Designers from Arch Nexus have been fervently working with mere months to design a new, 220,000 square foot facility for Northrop Grumman Corporation. On Wednesday ground was broken for the Northrop Grumman Roy Innovation Center, located at Hill Air Force Base. The structure is the first building in a development that will bring the Northrop Grumman GBSD Headquarters to Northern Utah, along with thousands of new jobs.

Falcon Hill National Aerospace Research Park will feature over 2 million square feet of commercial space in its first phase, with more phases planned. In addition to jobs, the development will bring revitalized infrastructure in and around Hill, including new buildings, roads and utilities. The project includes buildings behind the Hill security gate and others, owned by different tenants, located outside the gate and open to the general public.

Speakers at Wednesday’s groundbreaking included Senator Mitt Romney and Congressman Rob Bishop. Kathy J. Warden, president and CEO of Northrop Grumman, said the company chose Utah because of its educated workforce, its patriotism and its support for the military. Project Architect, Bryce Sorensen, says the timeframe to design this first building was difficult, but through extraordinary teamwork the project has proved to be very rewarding.

PERSPECTIVE was the theme for the 2019 AIA Utah Conference, held at Sundance Resort on August 23. The event showcased opening keynote speaker Kenner Kingston, President of Architectural Nexus. Kenner shared his perspective that architecture is about reestablishing the harmonious relationship between people and the natural environment. By blending architecture and social science he has led the effort on several of the most sustainable projects in the region, including Arch|Nexus SAC, California’s first fully certified Living Building. James Timberlake concluded the conference as closing keynote speaker. James has broken new ground with projects such as the Embassy of the United States in London, which employs strategies to significantly reduce energy consumption and sets an agenda to achieve carbon neutrality.

Leading the region in sustainable design, Architectural Nexus is pleased to be partnering with Community Rebuilds, a non-profit general contractor for energy efficient homes. Together, the organizations will be creating homes for low and very-low income households that aim to be the first Certified Living Buildings in the State of Utah.

The International Living Future Institute defines a living building as one that functions as a part of the natural eco system. To do this, they must employ several regenerative features. Some of the features included in the Community Rebuilds Living Buildings are:

• passive solar design
• highly insulative straw bale wall construction
• heavy focus on salvaged material
• materials with low embodied carbon footprint
• composting toilet systems
• rainwater collected and stored for toilet flushing and irrigation
• greywater reuse for agriculture
• permaculture landscape design
• earthen plaster finishes throughout the interior including adobe floors
• Lime plastered exterior walls
• Solar PV array that will offset all annual energy use

With the unique experience of designing, owning and operating the first Certified Living Building in the State of California, Arch Nexus president, Kenner Kingston is eager to bring this level of sustainability to Utah.  “Community Rebuilds is an inspiring organization that is tackling climate and housing challenges in the communities they serve. It is inspiring that they would advance their already high-performance, zero energy model into the realm of Regenerative Design by pursuing the Living Building Challenge. These desert homes will produce more energy than they consume and will store more than enough rainwater to flush toilets and irrigate on-site urban agriculture over the course of a year.”

The construction phase for this project is scheduled for July 2019 to July 2020. For more information, please visit https://www.communityrebuilds.org/project-vision, or contact Brian Cassil at bcassil@archnexus.com, or Rikki Epperson at rikki@communityrebuilds.com.

Perched on a hillside overlooking the Sweetwater Valley, the Castle Rock Medical Center recently celebrated the groundbreaking of their new, state-of-the-art facility in Green River, Wyoming. Big-D Corporation will construct the Arch Nexus design, which replaces the existing, aging building. Senior Principal Architect, Julie Berreth, shared her excitement for the project. “This new facility will bring cutting edge treatment and attract the best providers to the area. Residents will no longer have to travel a long distance to get this kind of care.” Berreth also cited an outstanding team. “We have an amazing client here, Big D is a great partner and our team of designers at Nexus have all been incredible.” The New Castle Rock Medical Office Building is scheduled to open its doors in the fall of 2020.

The concept of eradicating homelessness while simultaneously providing hands-on architectural training at Arch Nexus, has caught the attention of reporters and Nexus Builds is making headlines. Solving Homelessness through community, connection and tiny homes: A story of Seattle and Salt Lake explores the history and goals of the Block Project and describes the process by which Nexus Builds is helping. Also noted, is the fact that Salt Lake City zoning laws recently changed to allow accessory dwelling units, such as a tiny home.

As quoted by KSL The reality is each person is “a couple of missing paychecks or a broken relationship away” from experiencing homelessness, according to Brian Cassil, principal and director of communications at Architectural Nexus. And since “homelessness is a community problem,” he said, it’s a cause worth investing in.

Arch Nexus is honored to have been chosen as Engineering News Record’s Intermountain Area Design Firm of the Year for 2019. We express our gratitude to ENR Mountain States and the selection committee, who had many qualified contenders. We also share our appreciation to the many individuals who work every day to make Architectural Nexus worthy of this recognition.
This year’s selection was made based on regional revenues, new initiatives, current projects and several other factors such as:

-100% employee-owned this year.
-Salt Lake City office being a double LEED Platinum
-Design and operation of a Certified Living Building—our office in Sacramento.
-Building a Living Building Tiny Home on our property to be donated to a program that’s dedicated to ending homelessness.

We are truly humbled and grateful for this recognition. Thank you ENR!

The annual International Living Future unConference is nearly upon us and several from Arch Nexus will be presenting at the 2019 event. The Friday morning session features Arch Nexus Director of Sustainability, Patty Karapinar and Arch Nexus Site Design Leader, Jennifer Styduhar. Together they will present Abundance through Collaboration: Fostering Community-Based Food Access. Participants in this session will gain perspective from Karapinar and Styduhars’ real-world examples of private-public collaborations utilizing community-driven local food production and Urban Agriculture Imperative scale jumping with a school district. This process increased equity, environmental outcomes, youth education and job skills.

Catch Erica McBride and Peter McBride in the Friday afternoon session, Truth or Dare? Let’s Get Honest About Achieving Healthy Indoor Air Quality. Erica McBride is the Building Manager at Arch Nexus SAC. Maintaining a Living Building requires specialized and specific knowledge, passion, patience, and often long hours; demonstrating these day-to-day, Erica advocates for sustainable changes for buildings and how they operate and are maintained.  Arch Nexus Associate, Peter McBride is passionate about design and was the Arch Nexus SAC Building Manager during the challenging process of becoming California’s first Living Building. Together Erica and Peter will contribute their knowledge and experience to this “Best Practices” session, taking a strong lessons-learned approach that looks at the final success of achieving indoor air quality results within LBC’s thresholds through a series of failures and discoveries.

Earth Day made for a perfect date to break ground on the latest sustainable design from Arch Nexus. The new zero-energy 26,000-square foot Daybreak Library will offer a unique rooftop experience designed to incorporate urban re-wilding and support an active community.

Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, South Jordan Mayor Dawn Ramsey, and representatives from the County Library were in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony to discuss the importance the library will be to the South Jordan community.

“As this part of the County continues to see rapid growth and development, the Daybreak branch is going to be in the center of everything,” Library Director Jim Cooper said. “It’s a great opportunity for people in Daybreak and the surrounding communities to experience a County Library branch a little closer to home.”

See more from the groundbreaking here.