Tate Brock 2026 Portfolio

PORTFOLIO

4TH YEAR BACHELORS OF ARCHITECTURE CANDIDATE

Tate Brock

tbrock22@vols.utk.edu

865.567.8420

My name is Tate Brock, and I am a fourth-year bachelors of architecture candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. My anticipated graduation date is December 2026.

My work is driven by research, iteration, and experimentation. I am interested in how architecture can engage climate, landscape, and technology to create adaptable and socially relevant environments. I also currently hold the position of President of the Beta Alpha Chapter of Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society at the University of Tennessee.

TATE BROCK

tbrock22@vols.utk.edu | 865.567.8420

SKILLS

3+ Years of Experience

Adobe Creative Suite | Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Lightroom, Premier Pro, Media Encoder, etc.

Rhinoceros | Grasshopper, Plugins, VRay

Physical Modeling

3D Printing + Laser Cutting

Microsoft + Google Suites

Windows + Mac OS

1+ Years of Experience

Revit | Modeling + Details

REFERENCES

Hansjörg Göritz

Professor, University of Tennessee College of Architecture

e:goeritz@utk.edu

c:865.974.1316

Matt Alexander

President, Blackberry Farm

e:matt@blackberryfarm.com

c:865.548.0869

Steve Garner

President, Blount Excavating e:sgarner@blountexcavating. com

c:865.740.2539

EMPLOYMENT

Stock & Barrel | Knoxville, TN

Waitstaff

Oct 2022 - Present (3 Years, 3 Months)

Maintained high sales and a positive guest experience in a time-sensitive, high-occupancy environment by anticipating guest needs, coordinating across teams, sustaining background operations, and training new staff to ensure consistency at scale.

Blackberry Farm | Walland, TN

Waitstaff | The Barn

Sept 2021 - May 2022 (8 Months)

Developed a disciplined, process-oriented approach to work, emphasizing consistency, sequencing, and attention to detail within a tightly coordinated service environment.

Guest Services | Lodging

Jul 2020 - Sept 2021 (1 Year, 2 Months)

Connected guests and internal departments by translating guest needs into actionable requests, maintained long-term guest relationships, prioritized diverse tasks at once to sustain a high standard of service, and assisted in frequent on-site events.

Olive Garden | Alcoa, TN

Host

Oct 2019 - Jul 2020 (10 Months)

Demonstrated excellent customer service and time management regarding front of house operations and waitlist management.

EDUCATION + HONORS

University of Tennessee | Knoxville, TN

Bachelor’s of Architecture Candidate Anticipated Graduation - Dec 2026

Cumulative GPA: 3.92/4.0; summa cum laude

Aalto University | Helsinki, Finland

Finland Summer Architecture Institute Jun 2025 - Aug 2025

Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society

President, Beta Alpha Chapter

August 2025 - Present

ROOFSCAPE ANCHORAGE FIRE STATION

03 04 05

FICKLE PATH URDSGJALLAR SIGHTLINE CHAIR

ROOFSCAPE

Renovation + Expansion Proposal

Location:

Course: Instructor:

Semester:

Knoxville, Tennessee

ARCH 471 - Integrations Studio

Hansjörg Göritz

Fall 2025

Typology: Campus Planning, Mixed Use - Institutional, Housing

Selected Work

Project Description:

Roofscape is a renovation and expansion proposal for the Art and Architecture Building at the University of Tennessee. The project reclaims underutilized areas of the existing building to accommodate a growing academic community through new faculty offices, exhibition and meeting spaces, visiting scholar residences, garden rooms, and expanded parking. Beyond accommodating programmatic growth, the proposal prioritizes a climate-responsive agenda towards updating and expanding the existing building.

Collaborators: Ofmia Gobran, Grant Petschauer

Campus Integration

At the campus scale, a speculative volume east of the A+A is introduced for a future School of Art, housing academic, exhibition, dining, and childcare programs while unifying existing and new buildings through rooftop connections and a consolidated parking system. The parking structure connects to McClung Plaza Garage, sharing ventilation, daylight, and green space.

Together, the canopy, glass pavilions, and gardens form a lightweight roof system that allows the building to better adapt to daylight, ventilation, and storm water management needs.

The new A+A Hall could be conceived as an open, flexible system capable of responding to East Tennessee’s variable climate and ongoing campus growth.

ANCHORAGE FIRE STATION

2025 ASCA CMU Competition

Location: Course: Instructor: Semester: Anchorage, Alaska Competition

Hansjörg Göritz

Spring 2025

Typology: Civic

Selected Work

Project Description:

“Embedded to Serve: Anchorage Fire Station” is an emergency response center designed for rural Alaska that combines regional identity with contemporary structural solutions to meet the unique needs of its environment. Located near an airstrip and set against a mountainous landscape, the project addresses the challenges of emergency response, community resilience, and place-making.

Collaborators: Melani Jimenez, Kenzie Jantz, Morgan Tencza

Bermed Construction

Strategic Location and Community Hub

A key design strategy is the use of bermed construction, which adds thermal mass and protection to the concrete masonry unit (CMU) structure under extreme environmental conditions. The project’s identity stems from local architectural traditions of using earthwork for the durability, protection, and efficient operation of buildings.

The station is strategically located near the Campbell airstrip - an outdoor recreational park directly adjacent to the city - to provide optimized operational efficiency for ground crews and airborne fire brigades as well as ample space for community gatherings, education, outreach, and events. The location gives the station direct access to the airstrip and major roads/trailheads, enabling rapid response to a diverse range of emergencies like trail search and rescue, urban medical response, and house and forest fires. A tower rises in contrast to the embedded station, acting as a training tool, lookout point, and civic landmark. The design integrates functional resilience and cultural expression to create a beacon for first responders serving the communities they protect.

FICKLE PATH

Ijams Nature Center Trail Link

Location:

Course:

Instructor: Semester:

Knoxville, TN

ARCH 272 - Territory II Studio

Tracy Moir-McClean

Fall 2023

Typology: Landscape Infrastructure

Selected Work

Project Description:

Fickle Path adds a connecting piece to the high foot traffic park trails of Mead’s Quarry, at Ijams Nature Center near Knoxville’s urban core. The current park trails are segmented by steep shifts in terrain and require trekking through sensitive meadows dispersed throughout the park. The trail bridge carefully considers the territorial boundaries between pollinators and park visitors by reclaiming scarred post-industrial space to preserve critical zones above and below the rock face.

Ecological Placement

Reclaimed Territory

Through the study of native vegetation zones and pollinator movement patterns, areas of sensitive ecological activity were identified and prioritized for preservation. These findings informed the redesign of a key connector within the park’s trail network. To reduce human impact within critical zones while maintaining familiar circulation paths and highlighting the quarry’s distinctive viewpoints, the project proposes a tensile bridge that clings to the quarry bowl’s rock face, linking lower and upper trail systems.

The site is currently characterized by dense kudzu growth along steep, terraced quarry walls formed by industrial extraction. The bridge’s structural logic draws inspiration from the taproots of these invasive vines, which aggressively anchor themselves into inhospitable terrain. By reinterpreting this strategy, the bridge acts as a deliberate parasitic intervention - one that replaces an ecologically harmful presence with an architectural element designed to facilitate mindful movement, protect sensitive habitats, and encourage more responsible engagement with this unique urban landscape.

URDSGJALLAR

Building Documentation + Representation

Location:

Course: Instructor: Semester: Helsinki, Finland

Cultural Immersion Studio

Scott Wall, Tuomas Klaus

Summer 2025

Typology: Institutional

Selected Work

Project Description: This building documentation project was completed during an international study program hosted by Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, and focused on the rigorous documentation of a significant yet under-documented building on the university’s campus. The primary goal of the project was to record Urdsgjallar’s existing condition prior to redevelopment through precise architectural drafting and modeling.

Collaborators: Benjamin Cook, Whitman Lancaster, Micah Kincaid

Precedent Study

Collective Process

Urdsgjallar is the student union building of Teknologföreningen (TF), the Swedish-speaking student society at Aalto University. Completed in 1966 and designed by architect Kurt Moberg, Urdsgjallar is an iconic gathering space for Swedish-speaking engineering students. Inspired by the form of a traditional drinking horn, the building is unique for its unconventional geometry (containing no 90-degree corners), and continues to serve as a bustling gathering space for student life today.

Working collaboratively, the team employed hand measurement, field sketching, digital scanning, and archival research to reconstruct the building with a high degree of accuracy. Original construction documents were sourced from the campus architect, student organizations, and the firm leading the renovations, requiring careful coordination, information management, and cross-cultural collaboration across languages, metric systems, and professional standards.

Architectural Record

The production of a museum-quality, large-scale model was supported by digital workflows, with drone point cloud mapping, Rhinoceros, the Adobe Creative Suite, and CNC software serving as primary tools for fabrication. Through hand drafting and model-making, the project examined Finnish design thinking, materiality, and craft embedded in the building’s form and construction. The work strengthened technical skills and the value of architecture as a cultural artifact. The project is as much of a celebration of Urdsgjallar as it is a professional-level record intended for exhibition and long-term academic use.

SIGHTLINE CHAIR

Design-Build Prototype

Location:

Course: Instructor: Semester:

Knoxville, TN

ARCH 172 - Spatial Order II Studio

James Rose

Spring 2023

Typology: Contemporary Furniture Design

Selected Work

Project Description:

Sightline Chair emerged from a design challenge to use a single sheet of standard 4’x8’ plywood to craft a piece of furniture befitting for use in a gallery. The chair was created through iterative physical and digital model making, with comfort, assembly, and material efficiency shaping the design throughout the process.

Collaborators: Addison Cate, Morgan Tencza

Iterative Process

Through study models, the team tested form, structural strength, ergonomics, angle of recline, joints, material usage, and milling layouts. The final prototype consolidates design faults found in earlier iterative stages, and proved to be a valuable reference throughout the milling and assembly stages of the design process.

Efficient Assembly

An assembly consisting of slatted wooden ribs allows for efficient interlocking layouts on the 4’x8’ sheet for milling and a sturdy material configuration. This assembly system celebrates the possibilities of using standardized parts and efficient fabrication techniques. The slats are separated by spacers and secured along threaded rods.

Constructed Outcome

Gaps between the slats create moments of partial transparency, allowing the chair to visually recede at certain angles and sit quietly within the gallery environment. The design and fabrication process served as a platform for developing proficiency in digital tools including Rhino, the Adobe suite, and CNC milling.