Earl Swensson (B.S. building design '52; M.Arch '53) is founder and owner of the largest architectural firm in Tennessee. But after botching a small remodeling job for a doctor's office in Nashville when he was 19, he thought his architecture career--one that he wasn't even sure he wanted to pursue in the first place--was over.

The office wasn't functioning the way the doctor thought it should, and Swensson remembers being told, "'You should treat your client like a patient.' He said I should never forget that I was designing for people." Swensson took that lesson to heart. Today, Earl Swensson Architects (ESA) is a 170-employee firm that has produced more than 7,000 jobs across the nation and ranks eighth in the U.S. in healthcare facility design.

Early on, Swensson's father--whom Swensson credits for his work ethic--recognized his son's talents and asked if he had ever considered being an architect. "I said, 'Good Lord, no, Dad. I'm going to be a chemical engineer. Why would I want to be an architect?'" Undeterred, his father encouraged him to take a summer job as a carpenter's helper after his high school junior year to see firsthand what an architect does. Still, Swensson was not convinced that he wanted to pursue architecture until, as a Virginia Tech student, he interned with architect Bolton McBryde, whom he describes as an outstanding designer. "He showed me how architecture was more than just drawing lines and putting brick on top of brick."

Swensson credits his success to several people, including Virginia Tech professors Clinton Cowgill, Henry Wiss, and William Favrao, as well as nationally known architects who visited campus, such as Buckminister Fuller and Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, when Wright addressed architecture students during a visit in May 1951, Swensson was sitting in the front row.

"The next thing I know, [Wright] wants me to walk him through the school and show him what's going on," Swensson recalls. At one point, he says, the famous architect asked, "'Son, you haven't asked me one question. Don't you have a question to ask me?' I blurted out, 'Mr. Wright, do you believe in God?' I don't know why I said that, but his answer was brilliant. He said, 'How can you be an architect and not believe in God?'"

After earning his master's degree from Virginia Tech--and completing what he calls his 'real world' thesis project of designing his parents' winter home in Florida--Swensson secured a teaching fellowship at the University of Illinois while earning his second master's degree. "My wife [Sue] and I had made a decision that I would do everything I could to educate myself until I was 30," he explains.

When he graduated, Swensson interned with Perkins & Will in Chicago for more than three years until, approaching 30 and with a third child on the way, he thought it was time for the family to establish roots. He accepted a junior partnership with a local architect in his hometown of Nashville, but a year later he and Sue decided he should start his own firm.

"I'd learned so much from my experience with Perkins & Will that I knew what kind of firm I wanted to have," he says. "We were going to go after exciting, innovative clients that wanted to do exciting things." In February 1961, he opened shop with the help of one associate and Sue, who worked as his secretary.

Today, Swensson credits ESA's growth to an old-fashioned approach: listening to what clients want and following up with good design and service. "I think they also saw my passion for architecture and the real desire to make a difference for people." His work led to a reputation as an expert in apartment design, and whether Swensson was designing churches, fast-food restaurants, schools, or hotels, all of his projects incorporated an innovative approach.

One of his more high-profile projects was the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, the largest convention, non-casino hotel in the world. The hotel's fourth and final phase, which was completed in 1996, includes a 15-story glass dome, a wedding pavilion, and a 1/3-mile river that allows guests to navigate through the complex via boat.

Centennial Medical Center	Bell South Headquarters

Another big project was Bell South's headquarters, a 31-story high-rise that dominates the Nashville skyline. Swensson got the design idea from the Gothic architecture he had studied over the years. "From the side it has a cathedral look. The top reminded people of the Batman mask." He was worried about the clients' reaction to the publicity the building had generated, but those fears were groundless. "They loved it and even had Batman, Robin, and the Batmobile at the ribbon-cutting. That's what architecture can do."

For the past five years, up to 90 percent of ESA's work has been in the healthcare industry. In 1998, the firm completed the 440,000-square-foot Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, Ariz. The five-story facility represents Mayo's first-ever request for a design implementing the latest medical technology and a patient- and family-friendly environment.

"We create environments based on task and ergonomics, dealing with the psychology of people," Swensson says. Over the past decade, the firm has researched and developed a patented patient room featuring a ceiling canopy with beautiful, interchangeable images of nature scenes; an airflow system; and unique lighting and workstations. "We're incorporating what we learn from our restaurant and hotel design into the environments of the hospital," he adds. A recent Florida newspaper agreed, calling ESA's newest medical center in Titusville "more like a resort than a hospital."

Swensson is no longer involved in the firm's day-to-day business but serves as mentor to his employees and to students at Middle Tennessee State University, where he is Chair of Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning. He co-edited a book, Hospital and Healthcare Facility Design, Second Edition, and is currently working on a book about his life experiences. Swensson, who will celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with Sue next year, also just finished their house on the Gulf Coast.

He recalls hearing a program on public radio about reaching a time in life when a person should "put down the sword, climb the mountain, and look out to see the future. You're more valuable to society up there than you are slaying the dragons," he says. "I've been told that it's my time now to go up on top of the mountain and see the future."