Kennesaw State architecture graduate plays role in designing major Midtown project

KENNESAW, Ga. | Oct 22, 2024

In the ever-changing mosaic of the Midtown Atlanta skyline, Southern Polytechnic State University graduate Rodney Bell played a major role in shaping one of the newest additions, the upscale office tower 1020 Spring Street.

The 25-story, 525,000-square-foot building is part of a development called Spring Quarter by Atlanta development firm Portman Holdings. It sits on the highest point in Midtown, overlooking the east side of the busy downtown connector.

鈥淭his was a unique opportunity for me, personally, to be able to design a building in both my home state and the city where I lived and studied during my undergraduate years,鈥� said Bell, who during the project was senior associate principal for New York architectural firm KPF and senior designer on the project. 鈥淭he project itself is an amenity-focused office tower located in the heart of Midtown at a nexus of commerce, research, academia, and infrastructure.鈥�

Bell鈥檚 work also serves as an inspiration for current students in Kennesaw State University鈥檚 College of Architecture and Construction Management (CACM), which consolidated with SPSU in 2015, said Kathryn Bedette, associate dean in CACM.

鈥淩odney鈥檚 work on 1020 Spring Street is something our students can see and aspire to every time they drive through Midtown,鈥� she said. "It鈥檚 a prominent reminder of the impact their work can make鈥攏ot just on the Atlanta skyline鈥攂ut also in our communities and in the interactions and experiences of everyone who lives, works, visits, or just strolls by a project they鈥檝e designed. It鈥檚 wonderful inspiration for our students as they start their careers."

The project in Atlanta represented a shift for Bell, who earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in architecture from SPSU in 2011 and a master鈥檚 degree in architecture from Cornell University in 2013. For more than a decade prior to the 1020 Spring Street assignment, much of his work focused on a handful of projects in China, including the office-retail focused Greenland Bund Centre in Shanghai.

Bell grew up 7,800 miles from Shanghai in the rural southwest Georgia city of Cairo. His interest in building was inspired by his father鈥檚 passion for construction and his work as a tile mason.

鈥淲hile working with him during summer breaks, I'd often bring home discarded drawings from job sites and eventually began trying to draw my own by hand with drafting tools that could be obtained from our local arts store,鈥� Bell said. 鈥淎s I got older, I read architecture magazines from our local library and started to gain a better understanding of the profession as a discipline and how rich the design process can be.鈥�

After graduating from Cairo High School, Bell enrolled at SPSU.

鈥淲hat I appreciate most about my time at SPSU is 鈥� first and foremost 鈥� the dedicated faculty, who have made a more lasting impact on so many of us than they probably realize,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he architecture program has a uniquely diverse faculty where many of us could find our niche of interests and connect to likeminded faculty who would mentor and foster our interests.鈥�

In the architecture program, students are exposed the theoretical and the practical, which he said helped prepare him for his graduate studies at Cornell.

Fast forward to Oct. 1, and Bell flew into town from his office in New York for a final 鈥減unch list鈥� walk through of 1020 Spring Street, a few miles down Interstate 75 from CACM. Thinking back on his studies and his work experience, he had some advice for current architecture students.

鈥淜eep an open mind, embrace criticism, and engage with the faculty and your peers as much as possible,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his profession is inherently collaborative, and we grow through such interaction, cross-examination, and self-criticism.鈥�

鈥� Story by Gary Tanner

Photos by Matt Yung

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Kennesaw State architecture graduate plays role in designing major Midtown project

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