A New Art and Architecture Center

Art and Architecture Center, University of Utah, 1971. University of Utah Facilities Planning and Construction Office records, Acc. 0416, Box 9, Building Files: Art and Architecture—Loose Material, 1968-73. University Archives and Records Management. J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.

This elaborately illustrated brochure introduced readers to the newly-completed facilities for the University of Utah’s Departments of Art and Architecture. Fine arts faculty pled for expanded space for their department for many years. In 1970 –the same year that Smithson completed Spiral Jetty–and after many delays, those pleas finally met with reality, as the new complex boasts technologically advanced equipment, spaces for photography, film, and computer graphics, as well as traditional techniques and studio spaces. The newly-erected complex was also home to what was once the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

While the booklet offers an enticing view of the facilities, other documents here demonstrate that the project had been riddled from the beginning with difficulties, ranging from glaziers going on strikes and slow-drying concrete to acoustic problems that made some spaces virtually unusable after they were completed.
 

Memos indicating issues with Art and Architecture Center construction 1970-71.

 

Time Trip: Complex of Interlocking Forms
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