Jeff Martin literally dove into a career in public service in high school, becoming a lifeguard for Murray City Corporation (Murray City), Utah, a job he kept through college. “Then I left for a brief stint to work in the automotive industry and ended up coming back to manage the pools in our city,” Martin says. “And then about 2017, they created the facilities division, and I was lucky enough to become manager of that.” …
Legends: Reflexion Magazine Sits Down With GSBS's David Brems /
By Fran Pruyn, CPSM—Published December 5, 2023
As part of their ongoing series of interviews with architectural legends, Reflexion Magazine is proud to present this interview with David Brems, Principal at GSBS Architects. It was a pleasure to interview him, and we hope you enjoy getting to know him as much as we did.
Three GSBS projects honored with UC&D 2023 Most Outstanding Projects awards /
Left to right: Murray City Hall, GSBS Architects SLC Office, Recursion Pharmaceuticals
By Eric White, GSBS—Published December 28, 2023
GSBS Architects and our partners were recognized at the annual Most Outstanding Projects Awards Breakfast, hosted by Utah Construction & Design Magazine. Three of our recent projects were awarded, and you can find video links to each project below.
Most Outstanding Adaptive Reuse: GSBS Architects SLC Office—the renovation of our 125-year-old warehouse in downtown Salt Lake City into a modern, flexible space that celebrates this historic landmark.
Most Outstanding Municipal: Murray City Hall—a new 85,000-square-foot combined city hall and PD that welcomes the public and revitalizes its neighborhood into “the emotional heart of the city.”
Most Outstanding Tenant Improvement: Recursion Pharmaceuticals—an expansion that repurposed 24 previously retail spaces into 120,000 square feet of state-of-the art health-sciences laboratory and office space.
NEW LONE PEAK TRAM OPENS AT BIG SKY RESORT /
By SAM Magazine—Big Sky, Mont., Dec. 19, 2023
SAM Magazine—Big Sky, Mont., Dec. 19, 2023—Lone Peak tram, the largest on-mountain infrastructure project in Big Sky Resort’s history, opens today. Big Sky Tram. The resort broke ground on the installation in summer 2022 and began load testing the new Doppelmayr/Garaventa ropeway system in November of this year.
The grand opening will be marked with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and traditional bell ringing, as well as live music, craft beer, and coffee. Places on the inaugural public tram ride were auctioned off to benefit local organizations, including the Big Sky Community Organization, the Gallatin River Task Force, and the Morningstar Learning Center.
How GSBS and Salt Lake City plan to keep 'Hobbitville' a unique mix of art and nature /
The exterior of the Allen lodge of Allen Park is pictured on Sunday. The space is slated to remain a mixture of art, nature and history moving forward, according to an adaptive reuse and management plan final draft released on Monday. (Carter Williams, KSL.com)
By Carter Williams, KSL.com | Posted - Dec. 12, 2023 at 8:03 a.m.
SALT LAKE CITY — Allen Park, a 92-year-old space that Salt Lake City acquired and made a public park in 2020, will remain a unique blend of "art and sciences in the wild" for generations to come, park planners said Monday.
Salt Lake City Public Lands Department officials unveiled their proposed final draft of an adaptive reuse and management plan for the park Monday evening, which seeks to maintain its quiet nature and build on its art history by possibly opening some of its buildings to become art studios.
"Most people preferred the direction of 'art in the wild' — that idea of preserving the tree canopy, making it an area for quiet use of the community, maybe small gatherings," said Christine Richman, director of planning and economic development for GSBS Architects and a consultant on the project, during an online open house where the draft was released.
The draft will go through another public comment period before it's sent through the city approval process. Salt Lake City Council members, who will likely vote on the measure next year, have the final say on what the final plan will look like.
Major renovation project to finally solve Salt Lake City Library's infamous leaking roof /
A rendering of what the rooftop of Salt Lake City's Main Library Branch will look like after it is renovated. The project is set to begin Monday and be completed by the fall of 2024, according to the Salt Lake City Public Library System. (GSBS Architects via Salt Lake City Public Library System)
By Carter Williams, KSL.com | Posted - Aug. 5, 2023 at 10:31 a.m.
SALT LAKE CITY — Employees at the Salt Lake City Public Library knew the routine when it started pouring Wednesday afternoon.
Patrons and staff alike have endured roof leaks every time there's been a major storm for some time now. So when it started raining, employees got the trash cans out to catch leaks coming from the ceiling. This routine is potentially coming to an end soon, as Salt Lake City Public Library System is set to renovate the building's rooftop experience beginning Monday.
GSBS Architects, which was brought on for the project, came up with a design that features more shade and seating. The project calls for a small play area for children to run around and some vegetation with turf, trees and native plants, too.
Mass Timber What Is The Long-Term Financial Value? /
By Jeff Bolinger, AIA, GSBS Architects
Mass timber was introduced to the building market in the 1990s and has steadily become a popular and desired structural building system throughout the world. In Utah, it has been used sporadically for about a decade, though not as a mainstream structural system. Today, many professionals in the AE community are well aware of the basic concept and potential advantages of mass timber, having seen it used in projects across the county, and in the state. One question that lingers, as momentum grows, is “What is the long-term financial value of using a mass timber system, when the dollar-to-dollar hard-cost numbers, as compared to the equivalent system using steel or concrete, is potentially higher?” Keeping the focus strictly on the hard-cost comparison ignores the broader financial value that could make mass timber use a great long-term choice. The following are a few key factors to consider when looking at the long-term financial picture.
Market Differentiation
The unique sustainability and aesthetic advantages that the use of mass timber offers have always been at the forefront of its perceived value; however, there are financial advantages that come with its use as well. One of the advantages is the market differentiation that mass timber buildings afford. In a study by WoodWorks entitled “Mass Timber Business Case Studies,” it was found that office and multi-family buildings that are built with mass timber tend to “lease up faster than submarket norms, which translates to higher net incomes, lower income volatility, better internal rates of return, and better ability for owners to refinance or sell faster, creating an overall lower risk.” They also found that mass timber buildings tend to attract sought-after tenants, which translates to “better rent collection, lower cap rates, and more stable occupancy.” WoodWorks Representative Chelsea Drenick, who supports design teams in Utah, explains, “Generally, customers are becoming more sustainability-conscious and placing pressure on developers to lower the carbon footprint of new construction. The global focus on climate change could increasingly incentivize construction companies to factor sustainability into their projects, construction processes, and designs.” Though the initial hard cost of mass timber use can be higher than other options, the potential for market differentiation can be a significant financial value long-term.
GSBS's Cogen building is propelling Snowbird through its deepest winter yet! /
By Logan Stefanich, KSL.com | Posted - April 4, 2023 at 9:01 p.m.
Photography Credit: Grant Golightly
SALT LAKE CITY — Snowbird Resort on Tuesday officially broke its all-time record for total snowfall, surpassing the previous record of 783 inches. More snow has meant higher avalanche danger and more interlodge events — a time when avalanche danger is so high that ski areas shut down access to the slopes and order skiers to take shelter in buildings.
Luckily for Snowbird, and the thousands of skiers who make the often treacherous drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon to surf a seemingly endless supply of powder, the resort is self-powered by a cogeneration facility that recently won a national award for exemplary engineering.