Thomas Barrie is a Professor Architecture at NC State University. Before joining NC State in July 2002 as Director of the School of Architecture, he was Professor of Architecture at Lawrence Technological University, Southfield Michigan, where he taught undergraduate and graduate design studios and courses in history-theory and design theory. His research focuses on alternative histories of architecture, and in particular the interrelationship of a culture’s architecture and its cultural/religious beliefs and communal rituals. His research has brought him to sacred sites around the world and he has published numerous articles and lectured extensively on his subject area.

Professor Barrie is the author of Spiritual Path, Sacred Place: Myth, Ritual and Meaning in Architecture (Shambhala Publications, 1996). Though it is a scholarly book, its adoption by the Book of the Month Club and international distribution have ensured a broad audience. It was a Finalist in the 1997 Small Press Book Awards and has been the subject of numerous reviews and notations. According to Rudolf Arnheim, in the “Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism," the book “may deserve to be called an instant classic,” and that “as an overall survey of sacred architecture, I cannot think of a better reference for advanced students.”

Thomas Barrie’s second (currently unpublished) book is titled Between Heaven and Earth: the Mediating Role of Sacred Architecture. The book provides a unique and detailed discussion of sacred architecture in the context of the traditional belief that sacred places had the power to connect religious aspirants with God. The author argues that sacred architecture was, and still is, an intermediate zone created in the belief that it had the ability to co-join earth and heaven. Its research was supported, in part, through a grant from the Graham Foundation.

Professor Barrie’s accomplishments in architectural education and the profession are demonstrated by published writing, lectures, numerous awards for teaching, design competitions and grant proposals, community and collaborative projects, and publications and exhibitions of his work. In 2002 he was received the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Creative Achievement Award and in 1997 he was awarded the ACSA/AIAS New Faculty Teaching Award. He holds a master of philosophy degree in architectural history and theory from the University of Manchester, England, and a master of architectural design from Virginia Tech.