Preserving Calm: Peter Wiarda Explores SLC’s Endangered Architecture

When he was in college at Utah State University, Peter Wiarda spent six hours alone inside an abandoned building on campus taking photographs. “It was a post-apocalyptic scene,” he says. Wiarda expressed interest in photographing the building once he heard of its planned demolition and, to his surprise, the facilities department indulged him. Today, he cites this as his fondest memory as a photographer. The formative experience cemented his love for photography and highlighted the fragility of man-made spaces for Wiarda. “I wish I could do that with all the buildings they’re tearing down here in Salt Lake,” he says.

Wiarda’s interests in forgotten or overlooked architecture have come full circle in his new photo book Urban Calm, released on October 12. The book is composed of serene city landscapes, each shot perfectly composed to project a soothing effect for the viewer. Wiarda hopes locals who see the photographs in Urban Calm will feel renewed love and appreciation for Salt Lake City and “all the cool places” it has to offer, he says. 

“There’s a natural sense of order in architecture. There’s very little chaos unless it’s by design.”

Growing up in Cedar City, Utah, Wiarda’s first subjects were the plants, trees and landscapes in his backyard, reflecting the rural and natural environment of the area. While attending college, though, Wiarda’s subjects changed. At Utah State University, he was exposed to the “New Topographics Movement,” a photography style emphasizing man-made landscapes rather than natural ones and “contrasting the built environment with the natural environment,” he says. After graduation, Wiarda moved to Salt Lake City, where he continued his photographic exploration of cityscapes and built environments.

Wiarda’s work on Urban Calm began in earnest during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. While many felt the pressure of isolation and change during this time, composing and taking photographs of urban spaces became a therapeutic outlet for him. “There’s a natural sense of order in architecture. There’s very little chaos unless it’s by design,” Wiarda says. “It’s a great way to manage anxiety, finding these orderly city places and just taking my time to compose the scene. When I look through the viewfinder, all the noise in my head just goes away.” Wiarda wants viewers to be able to find relief and calm through the photos whenever they’re feeling anxious, as he has. 

In the four years since he began photographing for Urban Calm, Wiarda has already shot several buildings around Salt Lake City that have since been demolished. “Salt Lake is only a couple hundred years old, but the old houses and buildings here were built with the intention to last, and a lot of them have. But the city’s also changing, and there are a lot of historical buildings being torn down,” he says. Utah lawmakers’ interests in historic preservation are often overshadowed by the influence of real estate developers looking to cash in on a city experiencing a population boom. “They tear down everything that makes the neighborhood cool and then put giant condos there, and suddenly it’s not cool anymore, it’s just generic,” Wiarda says.

“When I look through the viewfinder, all the noise in my head just goes away.”

Wiarda hopes locals who see Urban Calm will experience renewed love and appreciation for Salt Lake City. “If I can’t save these places with character, at least I can document them,” he says. “Maybe [people] will see the photos and think, ‘We should really take care of what we have here.”’ With each historic structure lost to redevelopment, the unique quality of Salt Lake’s urban landscape threatens to dissipate. Wiarda’s work implores the viewer to advocate for the preservation of these spaces while they are still standing. While Urban Calm captures the changing character of Salt Lake’s architecture, Wiarda is already looking ahead, planning to expand his focus by using digital editing techniques to highlight the invisible environmental dangers lurking in our man-made landscapes.

Interested readers can view his photographs on display at the Salt Lake Community College President’s Art Show running October 29 through November 13. Find more of his photography work on Instagram at @peter_wiarda and order a copy of Urban Calm on his website peterwiarda.com. 

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