Contract Magazine - September 2018 - 45

The adventure and gearthemed residential floor
features outdoorsy and sporty
furniture, from a picnic table
and risers to swing-like pods
(opposite). The building's
copper undulating walls
reference the region's
topography of mountains and
valleys, as well as the state's
copper mines (this page).

Lassonde Studios
Architects CannonDesign,
EDA Architects
Landscape Designer
ArcSitio Design
Client The University of Utah
Where Salt Lake City
What 161,000 square feet over
five floors
Cost/sf $223

At The University of Utah, the Lassonde
Entrepreneur Institute has been supporting
students with startup aspirations by providing
grants, advisors, and the ability to realize ideas into
prototypes at no cost. But when the institute
celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2012, its
administration wanted to take the program to the
next level. It became evident that in order to do this,
Lassonde needed a physical home base that would
unify its participants-who hailed from different
majors ranging from business to fine arts-under
one roof to spur their productivity. As this called for
more than a conventional academic building or
residence hall, the program and campus housing
staffs embarked on a collaboration with
CannonDesign and its Yazdani Studio on what would
become their own prototype of sorts.
"We had to invent a new typology that, to the
best of my knowledge, didn't exist on other
campuses," says Mehrdad Yazdani, director of the
Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign and design
principal who led the project. The team concluded
that creativity and innovation could flourish in an
environment that blurred the lines of "where I sleep,
where I make, and where I meet," Yazdani says. Thus,
the five-story Lassonde Studios-a combination
school dormitory and startup incubator-was born.

Pushing the envelope
Even before stepping inside, visitors note that
Lassonde Studios doesn't resemble a typical
campus building. Its irregular, asymmetrical form is
something between a "K" and an "X" shape with
slightly sinuous copper-clad walls flanking each of
the wings. This enticing material references both
Utah's copper mines and institute benefactor, Pierre
Lassonde's role in the mining industry. The
remaining walls of the envelope are either glazed or
clad with light-beige brick. The palette
complements the existing brick, glass, and metal
buildings on the campus yet also distinguishes the
building with its different colorations.
The peculiar shape "was inspired by the
location of South Salt Lake embraced by the
mountain range," Yazdani says. "The wings create a
sense of a canyon." The copper will patinate-
another reason for its selection. Its transformation
from weathering will make Lassonde Studios "a
dynamic building that changes with time, which is a
true reflection of what the building stands for,"
Yazdani adds.
Lessons in networking
Upon entering the ground floor from any of several
entrances, students and visitors encounter raw
interiors of exposed ceilings and concrete floors
with patches of carpet tile in select spots. A cafe
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Contract Magazine - September 2018

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