Urban living is always a balance between privacy and proximity. The client for this house on a tight lot in Salt Lake City asked Sparano + Mooney to titrate that balance, while delivering a house that felt like a vacation paradise.
“The owner is in real estate,” says Anne Mooney, AIA. “He wanted to demonstrate that great architecture doesn’t have to happen outside the city on a pristine site.” Certainly, this was a rare client, because he was willing to forgo the typical overloaded program that bogs down floor plans. He wanted openness, volume, and views, and was willing to invest in a house with only one bedroom to achieve it.
In scale with the neighbors, the firm designed a three-sided courtyard house, sliced along its length by windows and cleaved by a central patio and pool. “We found a piece of wood with a void at the center, and that became the inspiration,” Anne recalls. The owner drove the dark palette, and it was his idea to locate the tub directly next to the bed.
The double-height living/dining/kitchen consumes the largest portion of the house. Stair access to the primary bedroom is here, but the room is over the guest suite at the rear, giving it long views across the pool.
At the front of the house, a recessed entry suggests a neighborly porch. And there’s the illusion that you can see into the house but, in reality, a wall behind the vestibule blocks full view. It’s privacy balanced with proximity—a perfect oasis for urban life.
Citation
Custom Urban House
Sparano + Mooney Architecture
Urban Tree House
Salt Lake City
Project Credits
Architect: John Sparano, FAIA; Anne Mooney, AIA; Philip Dimick, Seth Striefel, Nate King, project team; David Kirk and Mark James (model); Jun Li (model), Sparano + Mooney Architecture, Salt Lake City
Builder: Sausage Space, Salt Lake City
Interior Designer: Cody Derrick, cityhomeCOLLECTIVE, Salt Lake City; project team: Cody Derrick, Lauren Bald, Rebecca Loosli
Landscape Architect: Dig Landscape Design and Eschenfelder Landscaping,
Salt Lake City
Structural Engineer: Structural Design Studio, Salt Lake City
Project Size: 2,000 square feet
Site Size: .14 acre
Construction Cost: Withheld
Photography: Matt Winquist Photography, Kerri Fukui/cityhomeCOLLECTIVE
Key Products
Cladding: Stained vertical cedar
Cooktop/Range/Ovens: Wolf
Door Hardware: Emtek
Faucets: Waterstone, Brodware, Brizio, Restoration Hardware (primary)
Radiant Heating: Lochinvar Boiler
Refrigerator/Freezer: Sub-Zero
Roofing: Single-ply TPO Membrane
Sound System: SONOS
Surfacing: Grigio marble, Calacatta marble, steel, concrete
Tile: Cle Zellige
Toilets: Kohler, The Renovator’s Supply (primary)
Vent Hood: Best
Windows: Windsor
Window Wall Systems: LaCantina
Wine Refrigerator: Sub-Zero
Images
Plans, Drawings, Models
