Trent Smith

Trent Smith is an architect, interior designer, and instructor living in Salt Lake City, UT. He founded Modern Out West in 2019 to bring craft and beauty back into the architectural design of third places, community spaces where people live, work, and play. He is one of the few in the country licensed as both Interior Designer and Architect, and brings a common-sense approach and contextual sensitivity to all spaces he designs.

A deep regard for people is the strongest guiding force behind everything Trent does. He was raised to value unprompted acts of kindness, and carries the belief that people are far more important than projects. He started his own studio looking to find a better way of doing business than the chaotic and excessive stress that is so common in creative studios, and makes each decision focused on providing for and supporting the people around him.

Trent has long been drawn to projects that support healing, safety, and community wellbeing. His background in adaptive reuse and capital improvement work has included public facilities that serve highly vulnerable populations, and he brings a deeply empathic lens to every step of the design process.