Sparano + Mooney Architecture

Recognized as one of the top architects in the world working in mountain settings, Sparano + Mooney Architecture is a practice based in the American West and engaged in a wide range of architectural explorations carefully crafted at multiple scales. The process driven work has earned over 50 design awards and has been featured in publications and exhibitions around the world. This is the first monograph of the firm's work. Sharing a rich process for generating architectural ideas, ten projects are presented through images, drawings and text to both inform and inspire. The work explores practices for conceptualizing architecture within some of the most spectacular sites landscapes in the world. The architects respond with restrained forms and exquisite application and detailing of materials.

A series of essays tie the work to vernacular ideals and land art. Concrete, wood, weathering steel and stone are elevated from the everyday to the extraordinary. Through models, sketches, conceptual constructs and fully executed built work, the practice offers a thoughtful perspective on the process of developing architecture inspired by the relationship of concept and place. Finding meaning in everyday materials, rendered extraordinary through creativity and craft, the book investigates what it means to work within the context of the American West.

About the Author

Michael Webb (editor) is a Los Angeles-based writer who has authored more than twenty books on architecture and design, most recently Venice, CA: Art, Architecture in a Maverick Community; Architecture + Design LA; Architects' Houses and Building Community: New Apartment Architecture, while contributing essays to numerous publications.