The yard is a new community on the west side of Downtown Salt Lake City. The project consists of 340 apartments and is located directly north of Interstate 80. The colorful horizontal recesses and the linear form emulate the movement of the vehicular traffic directly across the street. Visually, we were interested in capturing the rugged industrialism of the surrounding area instead of creating a polished design.

As often comes into play, budgetary constraints played a role in materiality, pushing us to think creatively about how we could use off-shelf products to bring the cost of construction down while still maintaining a custom look. We decided to use metal panels and repetitive patterns found in the industrial world. Despite being a characteristically white structure, the reflective metal will capture the sky’s changing hues throughout the day, offering a sense of a building always in flux, responsive to its surrounding, a detail very important for a structure of this size. Amenity spaces include a workspace and lounge in the lobby, a fitness studio, and a recreation room with operable glass walls that allow the interior to flow into the pool area. The outdoor courtyard also includes a pickleball court, outdoor BBQ and fire pit.