Written by Sala Levin
Architect and Professor Matthew Bell, FAIA FCNU has been named a University of Maryland Distinguished University Professor (DUP), the highest appointment bestowed on a tenured faculty member, for his significant contributions to the design industry and through his 37-year teaching career at UMD.
Bell is only the second faculty member from the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation to earn this distinction; Professor Emeritus Richard Etlin was named DUP in 2001.
Bell is a national authority on architecture and urban design who continues to help shape the built landscape of Washington, D.C., while teaching new generations of architects to create spaces that thoughtfully and beautifully meet community needs.
As a principal at architecture firm Perkins Eastman, Bell’s more than 60 major buildings and public spaces around the District include public libraries, schools and university buildings; he has also shepherded master plans for projects including the new Washington Commanders stadium.
“Professor Bell’s expertise lies in the arena of civic architecture and urbanism,” say Dawn Jourdan, dean of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and Brian Kelly, professor and associate dean for development and faculty affairs. “No other faculty member in the history of the University of Maryland has made a comparable impact on the design and building of the civic realm in our nation’s capital.”
Bell served as a juror for the Biennale of Venice, and his many projects have been honored by numerous professional organizations. He has also served as vice president of the Restoring Ancient Stabia Foundation of Castellammare di Stabia, Italy, where Maryland teams have advanced the understanding of the seaside villas destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. through urban design proposals and architectural recording.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in architecture and urban design from Cornell University. He joined the University of Maryland faculty in 1989 and has been a full professor since 2005.
Bell has been recognized as a fellow by the American Institute of Architects and by the Congress for the New Urbanism. He also serves on D.C.’s Historic Preservation Review Board.
“There will undoubtedly be future scholars who study the impact of Professor Bell’s work as an educator and practitioner, and for them, he has left behind a set of artifacts—buildings and public spaces—that will be long admired and acknowledged for their importance in shaping the city that is greater Washington, D.C.,” says Thomas Fisher, professor of architecture and director of the Minnesota Design Center at the University of Minnesota.