Kyle Cook graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas School of Architecture in 2003. After graduation he continued work at Miller Boskus Lack Architects in Fayetteville before he and his wife returned to his hometown of Jonesboro. He joined Brackett-Krennerich Architects in 2007.
As president, principal and managing partner of Brackett-Krennerich Architects, Cook says his satisfaction comes from “that experience of final project acceptance and an owner’s smile and admiration of a common goal.”
In February, Cook told Arkansas Business, “I am always looking to the future. Therefore, my next project could be my favorite. I like to maintain the idea that the next project will be my best effort and the most successful. I think maintaining that thought process allows me to grow professionally and offer that much more to our clients.”
Cook says that Jonesboro serves as an important regional hub for Brackett-Krennerich. “Serving Arkansas and southeast Missouri allows our firm to better gain the trust of our clients and walk alongside them in their efforts,” he said. “It is not uncommon for me to see a client around town when I am out with my family. It brings a level of accountability to the work that we do. Their success becomes our success because it makes for a better community.”
He and his wife, Julie, have two children, Cooper and Macy.
The Judges
Tracey Ford, AIA
Principal, EOA Architects
Tracey Ford distinguished herself in graduate school by placing third in the international Paris Prize for Public Architecture design competition. At EOA Architects, she has continued nationwide design excellence as a BMW and MINI field designer. Ford led in the design and launch of a new BMW CenterNet website accessed by all dealers and BMW corporate nationwide. She was the project design architect for over 18 dealerships across the nation. Her local designs in Nashville have focused on high-profile public projects for Metro Parks and Recreation, including the East Park Community Center. Sustainability in projects is a critical focus for Ford in addition to serving as a board member for the USGBC of Middle Tennessee.
Heather Mathias, AIA
Principal, Hastings Architecture Associates LLC
Heather Mathias is a 2003 graduate of the College of Architecture at the University of Tennessee. In 2015, she was voted as one of Nashville’s top 40 under 40 by the Nashville Business Journal and has been published in Design Thinking, a monthly publication. Mathias has served on the McNally School Board in Nashville and served on the Davidson County Chapter of the University of Tennessee National Alumni Association. She has also served many years at the state board level.
Mathias serves as a principal at Hastings. She joined the firm in 2003 and served critical roles in award-winning projects. Her work has been honored with awards from both the International Interior Design Association as well as the American Institute of Architects.
Manuel Zeitlin, AIA
Principal, Manuel Zeitlin Architects
Over the past 34 years Manuel Zeitlin has earned a reputation for bridging historical context to 21st century sensibilities with a focus on sustainability. He is a past chairman of the Interior Design Department at O’More College of Design in Franklin, Tennessee, and former commissioner of the Franklin Historic District Commission. A Nashville native, Manuel received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture in 1976 from Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelor of Architecture in 1981 from the Boston Architectural Center in Boston.
In 2014, the Nashville Scene named Zeitlin one of its “25 Nashvillians who’ve shaped the city for the better,” saying that Zeitlin “led the way in getting locals to reconsider the raze-and-rebuild mentality, instead reclaiming and accentuating the cool, unique features awaiting discovery in abandoned industrial and commercial spaces.”
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