AIA CRAN Seeking the Soul of Architecture in Salt Lake City BY MARK ASHER, AIA If you attended the opening cocktail party at the historic Walker Mansion, you were treated to a house and garden designed at the highest level, with hospi-tality to match. A charcuterie the size of an SUV appeared to have been painted by Caravaggio. It was certainly worthy of his brush. This was the opening event to this year’s CRAN symposium. Salt Lake City hosted the symposium for the Custom Residential Architects Network. “Living and Building in the West” was the theme of our 11th annual event. As CRAN always seems to do so well, the four days balanced presenta-tions on design, building technology, and local culture. For all those in attendance, it is now settled that the oversized street widths of Salt Lake were not designed for the turning radius of ox carts. Conferences are easy to skip. There are endless excuses not to come, and the inconveniences of air travel are beyond counting. We are all busy with our careers, businesses, and the demands of our daily lives. But I find a way to come to this one and urge others to do the same. It is the very best of what the AIA offers. More than any other conference, the CRAN symposium enjoys this one understated thing: It makes you fall in love with architecture again. I don’t come to the symposium to check the box of CEUs; I come here for architec-ture and to be reminded of how good the good can be. We all share our stories at CRAN. The sessions are just the backdrop to the camaraderie and shared experiences that bring us here. Every residential architect has their battles with unreasonable zon-ing codes. We have clients who are too quick to complain and too slow to pay. 12 RESIDENTIALDESIGNMAGAZINE.COM The aspirations of our schematic designs can become lost and compromised by an arsenal of outside forces. Seeing a project through from initial sketch to comple-tion, whether a small addition or a large home, takes courage and the occasional sleight of hand. It takes stamina to hang onto architecture. So we appreciate the presenters at this year’s symposium, with all their varied backgrounds and expertise. The various skills we juggle are the undervalued es-sence of the custom residential architect. The final results may be lived in, pub-lished, photographed, and sometimes fawned over. But the how of it, the path a project travels to get there, is often lost and always misunderstood. Architects, in a quiet and uncelebrated way, become very good at very many things. The CRAN Symposium underscores this fact. It is architecture writ large, with sessions as varied as the profes-sion itself. We all marveled at the artful expressions of Tom Kundig’s portfolio. And the stunning beauty of McAlpine and Tankersley homes cannot be over-stated. In Love|Schack Architecture, we find the very best of passive solar design. And thank you, Peter Pfeiffer, FAIA, for reminding us that a relentless sun is hanging overhead that will wreak havoc on our buildings and our lives if ignored. Melissa Lind of Dwelling Creative offered fantastic insights into the mar-keting of our services. Without a client, there is no project. Without a project, there is no architecture. And once again, at CRAN, Rena Klein, FAIA, addressed our business practices as only she can. If our entrepreneurial spirit drives the business of architecture, Rena reminds us we might want to retire in some near Photo: S. Claire Conroy AIA CRAN chair Warren Lloyd did the heavy lift on this year’s symposium in his hometown. or distant future. So think about that as you detail your next pivoting steel door. The house tours took place largely in the Wasatch Mountain Range, just north of Salt Lake City. The views of moun-tains and valleys are a flawless stage for architecture, both the experimental and lived-in work. As Tom Kundig, FAIA, stated in his presentation, “Residential architecture is the soul of the profes-sion.” Indeed, it is. For every CRAN symposium that I attend, I leave a little better for it. And I leave with the inspira-tion of making better architecture. Finally, we must give a special thanks to Warren Lloyd, AIA, this year’s CRAN chairman. He has set the bar very high. So thank you, Warren, and the rest of the CRAN community. It’s worth remembering that this is a volunteer organization. And one cer-tainly worth your while. We’ll see you all in Seattle in 2024! VOL. 6, 2023
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