Utah’s unique beauty spotlighted in massive glass feature in state Capitol’s newest building

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah leaders initially envisioned a series of glass pieces hanging from the top of the North Capitol Building as a unique feature of the new building within the state Capitol complex, which is currently under construction.

“We could have different Utah-developed glass that would hang at different staggering levels in the atrium,” said Dana Jones, executive director of the Capitol Preservation Board.

Project officials traveled to Holdman Studios in Lehi to explore options when they came across a stunning alternative while sifting through the company’s portfolio. It had just topped the Paris Temple with a massive stained glass laylight, and the image of it changed everything.

“Our wheels just started turning,” she told KSL.com. “From there, we just went, ‘This could be what’s right.'”

That meeting set off a chain of events that led to the North Capitol Building’s newest feature: a massive stained glass laylight that depicts all 29 counties of Utah in a 25-foot wide, 25-foot long and 9-foot tall stained glass piece.

Crews finished installing the $1.6 million piece earlier this month, which will colorfully light up the lobby of the building when it opens next year.

“This stained glass laylight is a powerful reminder that Utah’s strength lies in our shared roots and our commitment to building a brighter future together,” said Gov. Spencer Cox.

Utah in stained glass

Project planners still wanted a piece to have a “wow” factor after they had settled on stained glass. A Pantheon-like piece where the spot of the sun could create a different experience during different times of the year was one of the early ideas, but Jones explained that it turned out to be too difficult to pull off.

Yet, telling the story of Utah through stained glass required plenty of work.

A giant stained glass mural that represents the state emerged as Holdman Studios ultimately won a contract with the state. Dallin Orr, an artist with the company, was assigned to craft the piece after James Graham, a project manager for the company, came up with the idea of a sun at the center of the piece.

Holdman collected public feedback from throughout the state and bounced ideas with a state committee, which all led to Orr’s final design. He decided to create a “cohesive, harmonious balance” between four ecosystems found throughout the state like the red rock landscapes of southern Utah and mountains and meadows found across northern Utah.

“From there, we got more … in-depth with how all the environments and the particularities of each environment (were added),” he said.

It resulted in a piece that blends landscapes and state symbols together.

A team of 40 people designed and created the piece out of 14,000 individual pieces. It also took two weeks to install the 89-glass-panel stained glass work atop the new building, in coordination with the project’s architects. Walls and another skylight above the feature protect the piece from the outside elements.

The hidden details

“Everything is very intentional” with the final piece, Jones explains as she leads a tour of the site on Monday. Orr walks over to one side of the piece and directs reporters to a Utahraptor skull fossil in the lead lines of a red rock-themed section, next to a mix of Native American symbols. He then points to a cougar that’s hidden under the shadows of Kings Peak on another side of the piece.

“And then over here, we have this wonderful cutthroat trout, which is the state fish, right? He’s catching a dragonfly right here in the lead line,” Orr says, pointing out the details as construction crews hammer on the floors below.

Visitors may have to look closely, but they’ll find plenty of Utah Easter eggs. There’s a California gull, the state bird, resting underneath Delicate Arch in one corner. Honey bees are pollinating sego lilies below that, representing the state insect and flower, respectively.

Goblin Valley, Bryce Canyon, Mount Olympus, Great Salt Lake and the Pando of central Utah are just some of the natural features depicted in the piece, as are other state symbols like elk. There’s even a bristlecone pine tree made with sand collected from all 29 counties in the state.

At the top of it is a crystal sun that allows colorful prismatic rays down toward the atrium. Holdman obtained the glass from telescopes that the government had retired, which a friend of the company happened to have, Graham said.

“We were like, ‘Let’s use these. They have such a story behind them, and a purpose behind them,'” he said. “We took those and broke them into fragments, and actually created all the faceted edges so as it comes down … there’s all these rainbows causing effects. As the sun moves throughout the day, it changes the entire room.”

These are all features that visitors will see when the North Capitol Building opens next year. Ground broke on the $165 million project in 2022 after the previous building was demolished over safety concerns. The building will house a state history museum that’s free to the public on its first two floors, as well as state offices on its upper floors.

The new offices will open in January 2026, while the Museum of Utah is expected to open next spring, per the state.

The new stained glass feature offers the stunning factor that the state wanted in the new building, Jones says, as she stares up at it. In her eyes, it glues the state together in one giant piece of art, which is why she believes it’s worth the price tag.

“For me, it’s about connection,” she said. “When you come here, you can feel Utah in this building.”