Johnson Architecture earns international brick award for UT dining hall project
Submitted by Scott Bird
March 14, 2023

Johnson Architecture has earned a Brick in Architecture Award from the Brick Industry Association for its design of the University of Tennessee’s Rocky Top Dining Hall in recognition of the versatility and beauty of brick in modern buildings across the world.

Johnson Architecture has earned a Brick in Architecture Award from the Brick Industry Association for its design of the University of Tennessee’s Rocky Top Dining Hall in recognition of the versatility and beauty of brick in modern buildings across the world.

Wienerberger AG, an Austrian brick maker and the world’s largest producer of bricks, started the Brick in Architecture Awards in 2004. The selections are overseen by an independent and international jury of architects. Johnson Architecture won a silver award in the higher education category.

“This award is shared by Johnson Architecture and our partners on the University of Tennessee West Campus Dining Hall project,” said Daryl Johnson, founder and president of the Knoxville-based firm. “As we designed the dining hall, the intent was to call attention to brick as a building material throughout the structure in both eye-catching and seamless ways that tied together a 78,600-square-foot structure. We fully appreciate this Brick in Architecture recognition.”

The brick manufacturer for the project was General Shale Brick with Gentry & Painter Inc., serving as the masonry contractor.

The state-of-the-art facility is the anchor and hub of student life for the West Campus Redevelopment project and includes a 1,200-seat dining hall, campus bakery, Chick-fil-A restaurant, convenience store and a 50-foot vaulted main dining room with a massive, exposed brick fireplace and chimney – and building includes more than 300,000 bricks.

Since the building needed to fit with the Gothic architectural style of campus and be stable, durable, beautiful and able to withstand East Tennessee’s diverse climate, cladding the facility in brick was a natural design choice.

Johnson Architecture carefully selected a team of consultants with extensive experience in higher education dining facilities to partner on the project, including SimmonsSTUDIO, Lauderdale Design Group, Ricca Design Studios and IBI Group. Blaine Construction was general contractor on the project.

Founded in 1994, Johnson Architecture is a design firm that provides architecture, planning and full in-house interior design services for facilities of all types. Johnson Architecture has designed various sized projects for numerous purposes, including commercial, educational, healthcare, residential, restaurant, tourism and spiritual. Notable clients include Blackberry Farm, Clayton Homes, First Presbyterian Church, Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation, Covenant Health, DENSO, Zoo Knoxville and The University of Tennessee. For more information, visit jainc.com.