June 17, 2026

Valentiner Architects was founded in 1973 by Niels Valentiner on a wing and a prayer. He had just graduated from architecture school.

What role can architects play in shaping more resilient, equitable and adaptable cities at a time of accelerating change? The Routledge Handbook of Urban Design Practice explores this question through a global collection of perspectives on the practice of urban design.

This column is moving out of your inbox and into the pages of Reflexion. Here, we ask AIA Utah members to respond to questions about topics of interest in order to present a diversity of viewpoints.

“We had a Japantown?” Valerie Nagasawa, principal at GSBS Architects, recalls the reaction some of her peers had when learning about Salt Lake City’s historic Japantown for the first time. Japantown was not a part of her youth; she was raised in Las Vegas and moved to Utah to attend the University of Utah. After meeting and later marrying Ralph Nagasawa, AIA, however, she came to understand Japantown’s deep significance in the life and history of his family and the broader Japanese American community in Salt Lake City. Her husband’s family owned one of the most well-known businesses in Japantown, the Sunrise Fish Market. That business and many others are no longer around, and memories of Japantown have faded into obscurity for many in Salt Lake City and Utah at large.

Perhaps as early as the 3rd millennium B.C.E., evidence suggests, bare-fisted, hand-to-hand combat was taking shape as a sport in Egypt — albeit one played to the death. This early form of boxing was later taken up by the Greeks and incorporated into the Olympic Games circa 688 B.C.E. While the contenders wrapped leather around their fists to protect their knuckles, they still fought to the death (or inability to continue).

The importance of community cannot be understated for the balance of the human mind. Our lives are increasingly complex and isolated. When I made the decision to start my own firm, I understood the risk I was taking, psychologically as well as financially. Spending time amongst other motivated practitioners has been my bulwark against the isolation that I knew would be inevitable if I took no action. The AIA brings us together to discuss issues that plague our profession and the state of Utah, and gets me out of the home office to be amongst other architects. I have enjoyed learning from all of you, and I look forward to our next event together.

AIA Utah is hosting its annual scholarship golf tournament on Tuesday, July 21, at Wasatch Mountain Golf Course in Midway, Utah. This event raises money for scholarships to support graduate students pursuing an architectural education. 100% of the proceeds go to AIA Utah’s scholarship fund.