School of Architecture Professor Anne Mooney, AIA, NCARB, LEEDAP, has been awarded the 2021 Silver Medal by the American Institute of Architects Western Mountain Region.
This prestigious award recognizes Mooney’s significant contributions to the Institute, the profession, the region and its citizens, as well as to her students and community, and recognizes that Anne’s work has transcended local boundaries in making these contributions. Importantly, this year’s award is the Institute’s final issuance of the Silver Medal, and Anne is honored to have been selected by her peers for the achievement.
The AIA Western Mountain Region Silver Medal is the highest honor awarded annually to an architect in the vast territory comprising the AIA State Components of Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. First issued in 1979, the Medal is “awarded for superiority in design; service to the public or the profession, education, literature, architectural and cultural preservation…”. Mooney is only the fifth architect from Utah to have received the Silver Medal.
From her roots in Montana, California and Utah to her education in New York, Los Angeles and Ticino, Switzerland, Mooney has been committed to design excellence, service to the profession and her community. She began her career in the office of Eric Owen Moss in Los Angeles before co-founding her design practice in 1997. The firm has grown into a regionally-recognized design leader with projects that elevate the design discourse throughout the Western United States and beyond, and with offices in both Salt Lake City and Los Angeles.
Mooney has crafted a career dedicated to teaching and exploratory processes to produce meaningful architecture responsive to context, culture and community in both her practice and as an educator and mentor for an emerging generation of professionals. Her creative work has been recognized with design excellence documented in a significant body of award-winning and published work. Her portfolio of design work synthesizes aesthetic and technical innovation, and consistently earns recognition through publications and awards at the state, regional, national and international levels. Her work has earned over 50 peer-juried, local, regional and national architectural design awards and Anne’s projects have been featured in over 45 architectural books, magazine and publications.
Mooney’s contributions as a committed educator span two decades on transformative architectural education in a laboratory of applied research, grounded in making meaningful architecture and helping students build community. Since 2004 she has held an appointment at the University of Utah and has earned the rank of Professor of Architecture with tenure. At the University, Mooney teaches advanced design studios and mentors the next generation of architects inspiring through example. In 2016, Anne was honored with the Professor of the Year Award from the College of Architecture + Planning.
Through her architectural work, teaching, service and publications Mooney’s impact has effectively transcended place while simultaneously being deeply rooted in the American West. Her design philosophy is informed and profoundly inspired by the region’s unique history, landscape, materials, culture and mythology.