Matthew Bell, FAIA FCNU practices and teaches architecture and urban design and is Professor of Architecture at the University of Maryland and Principal at Perkins Eastman in Washington, DC. Bell has been active throughout the Washington/Baltimore region with projects ranging in scale from waterfronts, new towns and neighborhoods to residential projects, civic and mixed-use buildings and schools. He has served as president of the Neighborhood Design Center in Baltimore and Prince George's County, Maryland, assisting communities and community groups in matters of urban design and planning. From 1994 to 1999 Bell was the Director and conference chair of the Northeast Regional meeting of the Mayor's Institute for City Design, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. His work has been exhibited at the Triennale di Milano and he has served as a juror for the Biennale of Venice (Italy) and chaired the Charter Awards for the Congress for the New Urbanism. Bell’s graduate students at Maryland have won awards from the AIA and the CNU and have twice won the Urban Land Institute/Gerald Hines Urban Design and Development Competition. His recent projects with Perkins Eastman include: the Deanwood (DC) Community Center; the Master Plan and the Retreat at Crown, MD; Dunbar High School (DC); Roosevelt High School (DC); the Reservoir District at McMillan (DC); Collection 14 (DC); the new headquarters for Martha's Table (DC); and campus master plans for George Washington University and American University.
Aside from his practice and teaching activities, his current research focuses on density and the urban block and on the architecture and urban design of cities after catastrophic events.
Bell is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a Fellow of the Congress for the New Urbanism. His professional work has received awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the USGBC, the Urban Land Institute and the Committee for 100 on the Federal City. Bell has degrees in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of Notre Dame and Cornell University. He currently serves on the Historic Preservation Review Board in Washington, DC, appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser.