Salt Lake City: Livability in the 21st Century

ARCHITECTURAL NEXUS, INC.
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Top and above: Architectural Nexus Salt Lake City office.
ARCHITECT: ARCHITECTURAL NEXUS. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF BRIAN TWEDE.
Architectural Nexus believes that both the client and
designer create an architectural design. Neither can work
alone. Design is an interactive process, with the client defining
the needs and the vision. The designer must learn those
needs and gain a thorough understanding until the client’s
vision becomes a clear concept. This is the concept behind
the architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and
civil engineering services provided by Architectural Nexus.
Two firms, Thompson Peterson Hammond (TPH) and
Jensen Haslem Architects (JH) were afforded the opportunity
in 1999 to join as associating architects in a design/build
competition together with Layton Construction for the new
$25 million Critical Care Pavilion at the University of Utah
Health Sciences Center. The experience of working together
on this project proved to be highly successful, as the combined
firms won the design/build competition as constructors
and designers of the pavilion. These partners’ collaboration to
complete the design, document it, and participate in the
construction was equally successful and rewarding. It led both
firms to agree that they preferred a cooperative arrangement
to their previous competitive situation.
After design of the Critical Care Pavilion, the two firms
received the programming commission for the new John A.
Moran Eye Center II facility and the Emma Eccles Jones
Medical Sciences building, both on the University of Utah
Health Sciences Campus. Award of the new Mercy Medical
Center in Durango, Colorado, in 2003 solidified Architectural
Nexus as a dynamic new architectural force in healthcare
design in the Intermountain West. The idea of combining
into one firm was discussed, and specific efforts to merge the
firms into a single corporate entity began within two months.
Members of both firms found the experience of working
together enjoyable. They noted that their work ethic and work
styles were similar and their technological skills were compatible
and complementary. Believing that they would serve their
clients better as a single entity than as separate architectural
firms, they had corporate documents prepared, and by
January 1, 2003, Architectural Nexus was a legal corporate
entity. Joint committees worked to decide how to merge the
firms’ technology, processes and staff, and the committee participants
had a great time discovering the talents, tools and
individuals of the newly merged firm. Founders of the original
companies—Steve Peterson, John (Jack) Hammond and
Tim Thomas of TPH and Tom Jensen and Bruce Haslem,
founders of JH—remained in leadership at Architectural
Nexus. Don Finlayson, managing principal of JH Architects’
Salt Lake City office, was chosen as president of the new firm.
Offices of the original firms were about seven blocks apart
in Salt Lake City’s Sugarhouse area. There was a line of sight,
so they could connect “wirelessly.” Placement of a transceiver
on its building’s roof allowed communication except when
the wind was blowing or the trees were in full leaf.
Rather than using the names of key individuals, the new
firm chose to call itself Architectural Nexus, indicative of
their decision to join together. The annual management
retreats began in 2002 at the Homestead Resort in Midway,
Utah. The firm endures as one of the best-known healthcare
design firms in the Intermountain West. To merge the cultures,
TPH managing partner Dave Fletcher and Finlayson
were given adjacent offices for easy communication.
Traditions, such as a costumed annual Halloween bowling
day and lunchtime volleyball on Fridays, were established
to encourage socializing.
An iconic project that continues to grow is the Huntsman
Cancer Institute and Hospital at the University of Utah
Healthcare Campus. Finlayson actually began working at
the University of Utah Healthcare Campus when he was
an architectural medical planner with a large national
architectural firm. The relationship has continued into the
twenty-first century.
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