Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Answering the need for more housing and a sense of place along a new light-rail corridor led to EskewDumezRipple’s Mya, a colorful mixed-use project in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mya has recently been awarded a 2023 Green Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The initial site selection presented several challenges, but also opportunities.
A question arose in the planning process for the project’s massing: how do you pair three seemingly different programs, pack them all comfortably in 130,000 square feet of space, and blend them seamlessly on a long and narrow key lot site?
Additionally, as with all programs approached by our firm, questions of energy efficiency and sustainability are always on the table.
The solution to these challenges spurned a project that combines the highest quality affordable and market-rate housing with unique public and private amenities, creative office space, and catalytic community retail.
The result is a world-class mixed-use and mixed-income community that connects a diverse group of households through the innovative use of public spaces, community programming, and entrepreneurship.
The touchstone of commercial spaces of Mya is The Shop.
Developed in collaboration with Domain Companies, this 30,000 square feet space features flexible workspace, a roof deck, multiple meeting rooms, and comprehensive amenities aimed at amplifying local entrepreneurs and start-ups, while simultaneously offering a flexible space for community events and programming.
Throughout, the EskewDumezRipple interiors team took inspiration from the movement, intersection, and industrial nature of nearby railroads which played an important role in the growth of Salt Lake City in the 1800s.
Natural woods, patinated leathers, black steel, and antiqued brass accents are used to afford a rustic yet sophisticated aesthetic.
Similarly, wood slat ceiling reference rail tracks of the pioneering days, while graphic wall coverings provide subtle references to the surrounding landscape. In the residential portion of the program (with interiors designed by partner architect Farouki Farouki), the design team sought to find efficiencies in a difficult site with opportunities to enhance resident life.
While all modules were required to be micro-units under 500 square feet, serrations introduce variety and excitement to what might otherwise have been a stoic exercise in Tetris.
Drawing inspiration from the nearby mountain scapes of Utah, the serrations offer another intended surprise: creating three unobstructed views for every resident within.
Similarly, as a quickly growing but still underpopulated area of Salt Lake City, the project creates a small, walkable community.
Beyond offering a variety of necessary services within the project itself.
The building responds and extends a mid-block pedestrian pathway that connects to several civic assets, including Salt Lake City’s Public Library, Public Safety Building, and The Leonardo Science and Art Museum.
As the commercial program portion of the building transitions into the residential side, so to does the mixed-use nature of Mya, which incorporates light gauge steel in its coworking spaces and traditional stick framing in its apartments.
This solution in cutting carbon emissions also proved to be cost-effective in its construction, preventing about 1600 tons of CO2e by 2030, and rounding out to an overall cost of $157 per square foot.
In an area marked by rapid development, this project uses communal spaces and residential comforts to complement both the unique personality and rich landscapes that mark this environment.
Project: Mya
Architects: EskewDumezRipple
Lead Architect: Steve Dumez
Photographers: Austen Diamond, Kelly Marshall, and Timothy Hursley
