Sparano + Mooney Architecture announced co-founder Anne Mooney has been elevated to the prestigious AIA College of Fellows (FAIA) in the category of Design for her vast achievements in the field of architecture.
Mooney, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP, who has served on the Board of Directors of the AIA and as co-chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), is also a committed educator of the next generation of architects, holding an appointment as Professor of Architecture at the University of Utah. She has also been awarded the Silver Medal by the AIA Western Mountain Region and named one of the Top Women in Architecture by Mountain Living magazine.
As one of Utah and California’s leading design practices, Sparano + Mooney Architecture is sought after for its limitless exploration and deep commitment to the creative process, which has resulted in thoughtfully-innovative and award-winning contemporary design solutions throughout the American West. Mooney established her namesake firm with partner John Sparano, FAIA, in 1997 and, to this day, the duo maintains the ethos that the design process is critical to understanding the essential nature of their work – the relationship among environment and inhabitant and innovation – and that discovery is as compelling as the outcome. Mooney and Sparano’s shared passion for designing architecture within the rugged Western landscape has resulted in works across extreme topographies and multiple sectors, as well as at multiple scales, most notably landmark designs for arts and cultural facilities and remarkable residential commissions.
For Mooney, being recognized by the College of Fellows further affirms her unique role in crafting and overseeing the firm’s distinguished body of work. “The architecture that I most value creating is rooted in tradition and history, while also embracing exquisite materials and details to reflect and elevate the broad communities our architecture serves,” says Mooney. “I have and continue to support the advancement of this foundational creative industry, and am honored to have been recognized by the Institute for my work,” she continues.
Sparano + Mooney Architecture's award-winning body of projects has been widely recognized and featured in exhibitions and publications around the world. Recent achievements include A Way of Working, an exhibition currently on view at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) through July 15th that showcases seventeen of the firm's exemplary works of conceptual art. The exhibition notably takes inspiration from Sparano + Mooney Architecture: A Way of Working (Hatje Cantz: Berlin, 2022), the firm’s premier monograph detailing the team’s unique heuristic design process through imagery, drawings and essays. True to its ethos, the firm also participated in The Center Can Not Hold exhibition at Granary Arts, which uniquely focused on ideas of place conceptualized through the processes of architecture.
Mooney currently leads several key civic architectural projects that aim to shape the future of Salt Lake City as well as the greater Western region. These include the El Centro Community Center in downtown Salt Lake City, which will amplify the cultural traditions of the region, creating a space where the heritage of Spanish-speaking Americans in Utah can be honored and in which individuals can thrive. She is also developing Park City, Utah’s first Net-Zero Energy community center; a new nature center for Devil’s Punchbowl, a stunning area of geological wonder in a remote Californian landscape; and envisioning the future of UMOCA and Abravanel Hall, key cultural institutions located in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. Through her work, which ranges from civic, cultural and recreation projects to custom residential, master planning, and worship projects, Mooney seeks to construct more meaningful relationships between modern architecture and the people who experience it.
Sparano + Mooney Architecture Co-Founder Anne Mooney Elevated to Prestigious FAIA for Design