Matthew M. Garvin 11926 Kimberley Ln Houston, TX. 77024 1/27/2021
PhiloWilke Partnership Architectural Intern
My name is Matthew M. Garvin, and I am going to rebuild the city of Houston. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I study architecture at Texas Tech University and will earn my B.S. Arch in May 2021. I have been passionate about architecture since before I knew what it was. I used to sit criss-cross on the carpet in my living room constructing restaurant plans and scale skyscrapers out of Legos. One of the earliest memories I have was when I was 3 years old, and my mom and I built elaborate roads and cities all out of colorful wooden blocks. Growing up, it made the most sense for me to go into a STEM profession; both my parents are scientists and I have a natural inclination towards mathematics. As I grew up, I began to rebel against this box I had placed myself in but didn’t know where to go next. While sitting on a concrete cmu block in my 3rd period engineering class, I made the life altering decision to switch my major to architecture. I started off behind in my first few college studios. I had no real drawing experience, but I made do, and I found myself attached to this newfound passion. My drive to be the best would not fail me. My growth was exponential. By the time I reached my final few studios, it felt as if I had climbed a huge mountain with nothing but hard work and intuition. I am now ready to climb that next mountain, for that next challenge, for new obstacles to conquer. The city of Houston means a lot to me. Growing up here, I am clearly biased, but I believe it has the potential to be the greatest city in the world. All that it needs is a new backbone, a new wave of infrastructure projects to revitalize our downtown and midtown. We spend way too much taxpayer dollars on the wrong connectors: Road. We must go back to basics.