Guest House Expansion, University of Utah

The recent addition to the University Guest House Hotel and Conference Center needed an expansion to further accommodate their guests. For this project, we opted for a separate building with a connecting bridge for extended stay guests. The expansion includes 30 new rooms some with kitchenettes, additional office space, and flexible meeting rooms that open onto the plaza. The expansion also includes a pedestrian bridge that spans the glen and leads to Legacy Bridge for better connectivity to the U of U campus.

The original addition and renovation for the University Guest House Hotel and Conference Center project consisted of designing a new wing, as well as renovating independent spaces throughout the existing building. The addition was a four-story structure including 51 new guest rooms, a board room, a large banquet hall, an outdoor gathering plaza with stone fireplace, a pre-function area, and a prominent new entrance. The renovation increased the area of the main lobby, guest entry, dining room, outdoor dining area, break room, administration area, laundry room, and fitness room.

Both the addition and the expansion, ensure the form of the building provides a smooth transition from traditional to contemporary aesthetic in a way that is complimentary but not obtrusive. An array of sloped sandstone fins of varying height were organized throughout the new wing, and as boundaries of the existing wing, to help express the transition from old to new. The fins were also used to clearly define the spaces inside the building.

Size: 23,000 square feet

Budget: 7 million