Rocky Top Dining Hall at UTK Earns BIA's Brick in Architecture Award

Simmons STUDIO Architects and Johnson Architecture of Knoxville earned a Brick in Architecture Award from the Brick Industry Association for their co-designed 1,200 seat dining hall. The Rocky Top facility is the new hub of student life at UT Knoxville, and the centerpiece of the West Campus Redevelopment project at the University of Tennessee, a collection of collegiate neo-Gothic structures weaved together with a rich fabric of brick, stone and clay tile roofs. The project captured the Silver Higher Education 2023 Award from the BIA.

The $42.5M project uses over 300,000 bricks from General Shale Brick Co., laid by Gentry & Painter, Inc., and features a monumental brick hearth in the fifty foot tall main dining hall. “The sustainable choice for 100-year building design is masonry, and the durable beauty of the material continues to shine in high-performance building design,” notes Bob Simmons, founder of Simmons STUDIO Architects.

Atrium Stair Robert Batey Photography

West Campus Dining Commons and Pedestrian Promenade Robert Batey Photography

Reinventing Dining for a Pandemic-Prepared World

al Fresco Dining Pavilion Opens to the Sky via Retractable Fabric Roof

How do campuses and companies, both large and small, provide safe gathering for dining in a pandemic and prepare for the next one? In a conceptual design study for a major northeastern college, Simmons STUDIO proposed creating an adaptable al fresco dining pavilion. It is adaptable to be open to the sky, or on rainy or hot days, the translucent fabric roof can close to create a shady and weathertight area. Steam-heated bench seats, and radiant panels allow for sustainable comfort all year round, with fresh air in abundance.

Two covered open-air cooking venues will serve the area to provide food with an extremely low carbon footprint. The design eliminates the extremely wasteful exhaust hood ventilation that is required indoors, which involves heating outside air, and then immediately expelling it through an expensive exhaust system, which produces massive GHG emissions. Learn more...

Dining Pavilion Can Also Double as an Outdoor Sheltered Event Venue

Mughelli Foundation Promotes Sustainability in POC Communities

Ovie Mughelli

Climate change affects people of color and low-income communities in a massively disproportionate way. Think about Katrina, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and inner city populations affected by drinking water and air pollution and asthma issues.

SimmonsSTUDIO chatted with keynote speaker and 2X All-Pro NFL fullback Ovie Mughelli at the Living Futures Product Expo on his foundation’s mission to engage and empower the next generation of sustainability leaders.

Ovie’s Mughelli Foundation has created innovative programs to engage youth in the sustainability conversation. From creating the Gridiron Green graphic novel series distributed to elementary schools, where a black superhero stars in green missions to protect the environment, to partnering with collegiate athletic departments for green tailgating events, Ovie is empowering the future.

SimmonsSTUDIO calls you to inclusive ACTION on climate diversity by having your higher education institution or athletic department partner with his organization. Learn more at: https://www.omfgreen.org/

#GridironGreen #mughellifoundation #OvieMughelli #greendiversity