Every Member + Adds Up

Next summer Memphis architecture firm archimania will celebrate its 30th anniversary on July 4. One way they’re celebrating early is by becoming a Chairman’s Circle investor. Why? In a letter to Chamber President and CEO Ted Townsend, Barry Alan Yoakum, FAIA and archimania partner and CEO, wrote, “The Chamber has been instrumental in our success. We have been a member, a volunteer, and even the Chamber’s architect… We look forward to meeting with you and your team to discuss how we can be most effective in attracting new capital investment to Memphis.”

In addition to reaching a milestone anniversary, archimania has another reason to celebrate. The company has been ranked nationally as high as the eighth best Design Architect from more than 20,000 architectural firms in the United States and is the most AIA award-winning architect in the history of Tennessee. Its work regularly draws national and international architectural attention, placing Memphis at the forefront of design that is relevant outside the traditional centers of design.

Most recently, they created the world’s first two dual-certified Zero Energy and Zero Carbon buildings with certification by the International Living Future Institute. Both are certified LEED Platinum and have received a coveted COTE Top Ten Award, the industry’s best-known award program for sustainable design excellence awarded by The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment, launched in 1997 to honor projects that integrate excellence in design with sustainability and performance. That first building, called Civitas, is the Mud Island home of Barry, his wife, Kathy and their son Crews. The second building is archimania’s new office at 663 South Cooper.

archimania was founded in 1995, and it’s a thriving collaboration with 20-something “archimaniacs.”

So, what’s the story behind the unique name?

Founding Partner Todd Walker, FAIA, came up with the name archimania while still in college at Mississippi State University as a commingling of the words “architect” and “maniac.” Both partners sign their names in all lower-case letters. “I’ve signed my name that way since 7th grade,” Barry said. Given the pair’s propensity for lower-case letters, it is natural their company name uses only those smaller letters.

Their work on behalf of their clients has been recognized with more than 300 design awards and has been published in many of the top architectural journals, featured in books and elevated in more business-minded publications such as Fast Company, Metropolis, Wallpaper*, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The company is the Architect of Record and is collaborating with Pritzker prize laureates Herzog & de Meuron of Switzerland as Design Consultant on the new Memphis Art Museum and recently started design on a ground-up College of Veterinary Medicine for Arkansas State University. They’ve completed many projects including the Ford BlueOval Campus training center, The Oasis for FedEx Express, Hattiloo Theatre, Ballet Memphis, Collage Dance, Girls Inc, The University of Memphis Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, a variety of projects at Regional One Health and Conservation Hall at the Tennessee Governor’s Mansion in Nashville.

Barry takes particular pleasure in the Transplant Institute archimania designed for Methodist and UTHSC. The funder was Laurene Powell Jobs in honor of Steve Jobs’ high-profile liver transplant in Memphis in 2009. “We were the designer for a couple of floors of the new tower, and that part of the project has received multiple AIA awards,” said Barry. Laurene Jobs was quite pleased with the results, Barry said, “For me personally, to work on something that saves lives – that’s a life-extender project, that’s very rewarding.”

Barry’s family moved to Memphis from Knoxville in 1957 and took up residence in a duplex on South Cooper. Coincidently, archimania relocated its offices from South Main to 663 South Cooper in 2019, a renovated building that was constructed in 1957. Barry is a graduate of Sheffield High School and the University of Tennessee School of Architecture.

What most excites him most about Memphis? “It’s really on the rise,” he said. “I’m excited about where we can go.”

Faith plays a big role in Barry’s life. In fact, he met his wife Kathy at church. “We are believers…” he said. Barry loves playing golf, “but it doesn’t rule my life. Golf is not better than architecture. Architecture is my work and my hobby.” His favorite book is Outliers. “It’s a game-changer. I wish I had read it a decade ago,” he said. His favorite movie? 2001: A Space Odyssey. “That was a big deal to me. I was drawn to it. It inspired me for the first time to draw something three-dimensionally,” he said. Barry has four children and seven grandchildren.

Barry has a clear view of what he thinks is important for the continued success of the Greater Memphis region. “It’s education. It’s who helps young people along the way. That early education is important,” he said. And he has personal experience with that. It was his third-grade teacher who inspired him to become an architect. That third-grade teacher was Mrs. Atnip at Goodlett Elementary School. For extra credit she let him build models from milk carton flats (you remember those small milk cartons, right?). Barry built houses – what else?! – for his project. “She told me I’d be a good architect,” he said. “She set my career for me on the spot. What a good teacher says can be most impactful.”

And architecture has been a good career for Barry, indeed.