UTK Torchbearer Honoree Matt Barnett Using Architecture To Improve Landscapes And Lives

  • Tuesday, May 5, 2015
  • John Shearer
Matt Barnett outside the UT Art and Architecture Building
Matt Barnett outside the UT Art and Architecture Building
photo by John Shearer
Graduating University of Tennessee architecture student Matt Barnett looks forward to getting more opportunities to design nice structures and building additions in the real world.
 
But the 2010 Signal Mountain High School graduate also has some schematic plans in his mind for creating a better society through his architectural work.
 
“Architecture is (usually) beneficial to 1 percent of the population,” he said of the fact that affluent homeowners and larger businesses or organizations are the traditional client base.
“But all of society should benefit from architecture.”
 
To that end, the fifth-year student has been involved locally and nationally in the American Institute of Architecture Students’ Freedom by Design program. As a volunteer in the group, he has produced design and construction projects to help low-income and disabled people in the Knoxville area.
 
The work recently helped produce something else for him – recognition as a Torchbearer, the highest honor given a graduating UT senior for academic excellence and service to the university and society at large.
 
“It was a pretty big surprise because usually architecture students don’t win it,” he said, adding that he believes only about four former College of Architecture and Design students have previously been selected.
 
It was an unlikely culmination for Mr. Barnett, who had no idea he one day even wanted to study architecture while attending Signal Mountain High. He had shown such minimal interest in art-related projects that he had to ask the high school art teacher, Allison Fuller-Mulloy, for guidance in putting together some materials to be accepted into UT’s architecture program.
 
“I was always interested in building and making things with my hands and bridging the gap between what you can do on paper and what you do with the building materials,” he said. “And I have always been a hard worker and fast learner, but I was never exposed to artistic things.”
 
He was also interested in studying engineering but chose architecture because of how diverse the profession is and because of the numerous career opportunities available.
 
Although he was late about focusing on the profession, he now has a pretty clear idea what makes a good architect.
 
“A good architect is someone who is willing to do very site-specific work that’s very exploratory,” he said. “It is taking a fresh approach to every single project with a high level of research and informed concepts.
 
“I’m much more of a conceptual designer,” he continued. “I’m not very conventional about doing something that is done just because it has been done before.”
 
He also said a good architect should have an ethic to be as sustainable as possible in his or her design work, whether or not the client wants it.
 
Besides aiding the environment, he enjoyed also trying to aid his fellow man through the AIA student design program. For the last two years, he was involved with its national board, and this year served as a co-chairman in addition to being the director of the UT student group.
 
In the Knoxville design service projects, he has tried to come up with creative ways to help the clients in turn be able to enjoy more creativity in simply living their lives at home.
 
For example, he said that one woman in a wheelchair liked to garden, so he designed an area with some planters that could be tended while sitting down.
 
“We go out and visit people’s homes and figure out what the needs are,” he said. “The clients always inject their souls into the projects.”
 
He has also worked with the city of Knoxville to help figure out ways to design affordable housing for $100 or less a square foot.
 
And he recently found out he won a prestigious American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment top 10 national award for an urban market park/culinary school he designed with fellow student Zane Espinosa.
 
Mr. Barnett, the son of Tia Justice of North Carolina and Volkswagen employee Rodney Barnett of Chattanooga, was one of nine Torchbearer honorees.
 
The others included Notre Dame High graduate Kenna Rewcastle, who was recently profiled in another chattanoogan.com story, and former UT Lady Vois basketball standout Cierra Burdick from Charlotte.
 
Mr. Barnett stood next to Miss Burdick when the Chancellor’s Honor Banquet picture of Torchbearer recipients was being taken, and he was surprised how tall she was with her high heels.
 
Mr. Barnett will likely be feeling tall, too, when he graduates on Wednesday. This will bring to an end the 80 hours or more a week he has often spent in the UT Art and Architecture Building. That does not include other hours spent elsewhere working on other school-related projects.
 
Unlike a typical Torchbearer winner who often has numerous employers wanting to hire him or her, Mr. Barnett is not sure yet where he will be working.
 
In recent months, he interned with the prestigious Brooks + Scarpa firm in Los Angeles, and he said he would love to continue doing more progressive, high-level architectural design work.
 
Other types of work might be amenable, too.
 
“I have such a wide range of interests that I have no clue what I’m going to do,” he said with a laugh.
 
However, he knows he wants to continue trying to help people.
 
“I know that by using architecture I can make a big difference,” he said. “That’s something I’m very passionate about.”
 
Jcshearer2@comcast.net
 
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