Richard E. Barrow

Specifications Writer, FAIA

Richard Barrow is a walking library of architectural details and technical construction information, all collected over his long career as an Architect. In fact, his colleagues claim that Richard is faster and more accurate than Google, with one saying, “There’s a lot of technical knowledge and experience in that brain of his that you can access without having to do a Google search. And you can walk away knowing that it is correct.” Richard is extremely thorough. If he doesn’t already know it, he will make calls, do research, and fact-check every possible angle to make sure the details are in place to ensure that the overall system will work properly.

“Architecture is a profession that requires a broad, big-picture, creative view combined with an attention to thousands of small bits of information and materials,” says Richard. “My concern is with the assemblage and integration of these small parts into the larger whole.” He believes architecture is a cooperative process and he puts his money where his mouth is as he is extremely generous in sharing his time and wealth of knowledge with his CMH teammates and the profession.

Richard was once a member of the National AIA Board of Directors and served on the Alabama Board for Registration of Architects. He spends most of his free time reading books on a wide variety of topics. He is generally a quiet fellow, which is why his CMH colleagues might be surprised to learn that he was once a choir singer—and a darn good one at that.