Andy Powers is an architect with 40 years of experience. An alumni of The University of Tennessee, he began his career as a Planner with Raleigh Downtown. Returning to Knoxville in 1986, he entered private practice where he specialized in higher education and would go onto become Principal and Design Director for Ross/Fowler, a multi-disciplinary firm of architects, planners and landscape architects. He has practiced in eighteen states and on five campuses, winning over forty local and regional design awards from the AIA and ASLA. He also received a National Contractors Award award for Tennessee's Bicentennial Mall, Hilton International's Renovation of the Year at Biltmore, and a USGBC Greenlight Award. His firm designed iconic spaces urban spaces in Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Alabama.
In 2014, he became the first University Architect at Tennessee. Since that time, the campus has undergone a metamorphosis with three billion dollars of capital investment effecting more one third of the campus footprint. Recent projects include a $344M renovation of Neyland Stadium, $100M Lindsey Nelson Baseball Stadium, $199M Chemistry, $126M Croley College of Nursing, and $227M Haslam College of Business. But what we are going to talk about to today is the $98M Energy and Environmental Science Research Building, and how it is transforming education and research on Rocky Top, while helping the campus reach its sustainability goals.