Book by Architecture, Business Grad Explores Texas Tech University Construction History
Category: Architecture
Written By: Nicole McBride
Date: July 24, 2020
Brian is a Principal based in PSC’s Amarillo Office in the Higher Education practice. His expertise includes collegiate and multi-facility master planning, charrette coordination, pre-design programming of higher educational facilities, and the design of instructional, laboratory, student life, and residential facilities for community colleges, CTE institutions, and universities. Brian is a member of the Society for College and University Planning and has served as a speaker at the Association of Texas College and University Facilities Professionals (TCUF) Conferences in 2012 and 2014. After more than a decade of travel, research, photography, and writing, Brian has published, “Opus in Brick and Stone: The Architectural and Planning Heritage of Texas Tech University” compiled of his memorable experiences and TTU’s defining architectural history.
After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, a talented draftsman and design-build project manager, Bill Griggs, planned to pursue a career in architecture. In the course of this career, however, he never had the opportunity to become an accredited architect as Arkansas did not allow architects to become accredited through work experience alone.
This story of passion and denial stuck with the man’s grandson, Brian Griggs, and would inspire his own career and interest in architecture many years later. Griggs eventually earned a master’s degree in architecture and business administration, both in 2004, from Texas Tech University. This May, after more than a decade of work, he has published “Opus in Brick and Stone: The Architectural and Planning Heritage of Texas Tech University.”
The book, published by TTU Press, tells a story that begins in January 1492 and continues through today and into the future. The story of Texas Tech’s campus plan and architectural origins changed throughout the decades to reflect history.
“There are plenty of books out there on campus architectural history or architecture in general, and too many of those books are obviously not for the layperson,” Griggs said. “My hope was to write, draw and photograph a book that thoroughly documents the architectural history and details of the Texas Tech campus with side-stories that will appeal to the general public.”
The Industrial Engineering Building at Texas Tech was influenced in many ways by UMass Lowell’s neoclassical Southwick Hall.
Brian Griggs
