Parkhill’s Brian Griggs, AIA, Honored With the 2024 Kleinschmidt Award from TTU’s Huckabee College of Architecture
Category: Architecture
Written By: Parkhill Communications
Date: September 10, 2024
Parkhill’s Brian Griggs, AIA, has been named a 2024 Kleinschmidt Award winner by the Huckabee College of Architecture at Texas Tech University. The Kleinschmidt Award was established in 2000 and recognizes any individual, firm, or organization whose contributions and service have enriched the college. The namesake of the award is Professor Florian A. Kleinschmidt, who was the first leader of the Texas Tech Architecture Program in 1928.
“All of us who know and work with Brian recognize that this award is as well-deserved by Brian as it is prestigious for the college to confer it,” said Parkhill’s Vice-President of Architecture Dan Hart, AIA, PE.
As a Texas Tech alumnus himself, Brian was inspired by his architectural education and his design work on campus for Parkhill to write and illustrate Opus in Brick and Stone: The Architectural and Planning Heritage of Texas Tech University.
His book was a decade-long project that focused on the historical significance and beauty of the university's architecture. Brian’s storytelling highlights the many contributions from local, regional, and national architects as well as those who trained and taught at Texas Tech.
“At a time when the future of Texas Technological College barely scratched out of the flatness of West Lubbock, all the intrepid Matadors of that era had was their architecture,” Brian said.
Opus in Brick and Stone features many of Brian’s drawings of campus buildings and showcases the university’s unique Spanish architectural style. He said his goal with the book is to instill a greater sense of pride in graduates for their alma mater while also elevating the public’s perception of Texas Tech architecture as well as the architectural history of the West Texas plains.
Brian is currently based in Parkhill’s Amarillo office with the Higher Education team. He has played a key role in an array of projects, including city halls, master planning for large-scale redevelopment, and specialized facilities. His work spans clients such as Amarillo College, Phillips 66, West Texas A&M University, Amarillo ISD, and McCartt Properties.