Jane Gianvito Mathews, AIA, LEED™ AP

Jane G. Mathews, Owner and Principal of the firm

Jane Gianvito Mathews, AIA, LEED AP, principal of Mathews Architecture, PA, holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree from the University of Colorado and a Masters of Architecture degree from Yale University. After graduate school, with a professional goal of working in small towns and communities of need, she was an intern architect in the coalfields of rural Eastern Kentucky, a community she still works with even today. To further her work with non-profit organizations, she served as a Fellow with the Design Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC in 1981. A regular visitor to Asheville for many years, she came to work for sixty-to-ninety days in 1982 and has been a resident ever since. During those first years while working at Wood & Cort Architects, she attended AB-Tech’s Building Construction Program at night and graduated with highest honors in 1984. In 1987, she married her long-time sweetheart, Richard Mathews, started working with the firm of Spaceplan, and renovated, with her husband, a very dilapidated but historic 1906 cottage in Albemarle Park. During this time she had the privilege of being Project Architect for the design of a number of significant projects within the Asheville community including Pack Place, the Public Works Building, Hospice’s first Solace home, and MAHEC’s Family Health Center.

Jane has always been very active in the community of Asheville, utilizing her professional and personal skills to volunteer her time and efforts to various non-profit organizations. She served as President of the Asheville Section of the American Institute of Architects in 1999 and has served on several NC AIA committees through the years. She is also an affiliate member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Jane has served as president of the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County, treasurer of the League of Women Voters, and chair of the Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission. She has been involved in a variety of planning efforts and community charrettes – for the French Broad River Greenway, the Urban Trail, the Asheville Parks & Recreation Master Plan, the Albemarle Park Landscape Guidelines, and the Unified Development Ordinance. She has served on the Asheville Citizen-Times President’s Circle; as a Sustaining Advisor with the Junior League; and is a graduate of Leadership Asheville VIII. She and her husband, Rich, helped to establish the Albemarle Park-Manor Grounds Local Historic District and co-authored the book, The Manor and Cottages to raise funds for the work of the neighborhood’s non-profit preservation efforts. She is also the 2004 Honoree of the Year of the TWIN (Tribute to Women in Industry) Award from the YWCA of Asheville.

In 1992 she started the first women’s owned corporate firm in Western North Carolina, Mathews & Glazer Architects, P.A., which designed many projects in the region, including the Jewish Community Center, the first structures in the French Broad River Park greenway, the initial renovations and subsequent fire-damage assessment of the Thomas Wolfe House, and numerous mixed-use renovations of historic commercial buildings in downtown Asheville. On January 1, 2000 she established the firm of Mathews Architecture, P.A. just four months after the birth of her son, David; and, with the incredible support of her family and devoted staff, she has been working to continue her commitment to provide socially and environmentally responsible design for the region. She and her architectural staff are all LEED™ Accredited Professionals and members of the US and WNC Green Building Councils, working to promote sustainable design solutions.

In her not-so-spare time between life as a wife, mother, architect and community volunteer, Jane can be found doing other creative things such as sculpting busts of family and friends, fly fishing or working in her shade and moss gardens.

EDUCATION:
Yale University - Master of Architecture, 1978
University of Colorado - Bachelor of Environmental Design with honors, 1975
Asheville-Buncombe Technical College - Diploma in Building Construction with highest honors, 1984

PROFESSIONAL LICENSES & AFFILIATIONS:
North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina & New York Boards of Architecture
National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, Member
Principal/President, Mathews & Glazer Architects, P.A. 1992-1999
LEED™ Accredited Professional, U.S. Green Building Council, 2002

 PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS:
City of Asheville Sustainable Advisory Committee on Energy & the Environment, Member, 2006-09
Neighborhood Housing Services Board of Advisors, Member, 2006-
NC Arts Council, Design, Grants Review Panel Member, Public Art & Community Design, 2006-07
NC State Historic Preservation Office – Public Advisory Committee Member, 2005
City of Asheville Development Process Review Task Force Member, 2004-2005
TWIN Award, Tribute to Women in Industry, Business Honoree of the Year, 2004
City of Asheville Corporate Academy, first graduating class, 2004
Asheville Citizen-Times, President's Circle Member, 2000
Asheville Planning & Zoning Commission, 1993-99, Chair 1997-99, Liaison to Asheville City Council
RiverLink Urban Riverfront Development Project Steering Committee Member, 2002
Asheville Riverfront Joint AIA/ASLA R/UDAT Charrette, Urban Linkages Team
Asheville Riverfront Open Space Design Charrette, Team Member, 1991
Asheville Riverfront Design Review Committee, 2004-07
Unified Development Ordinance, Neighborhood Subcommittee Member
Landscape Advisory Committee, City of Asheville, Planning Department, 1993
Urban Trails Charrette, City of Asheville, Downtown Development Office, 92-93
The North Carolina Arboretum, Ethnobotanical Interpretive Center Charrette,    NCASLA Community Assistance Team Member, 1993
Charlotte St. Small Area Plan Advisory Committee, Planning & Zoning Commission Advisor, 1996-98
Asheville Parks & Recreation Department, Project Steering Committee Member, Comprehensive Master Plan, 1997-98
Co-author, The Manor & Cottages
Griffin Award Winner for Excellence in Historic Preservation – 1990-2006
National Endowment for the Arts, Fellow, Design Arts Program, Washington DC
AIA Affordable Housing Design Exhibitor, Asheville Art Museum
AIA/Asheville, President, 1999, Vice President/President-Elect, Annual Lecture Committee
Leadership Asheville VIII, 1989-90, Circle of Excellence Committee, 1992
AIA/North Carolina Leadership Development Conference, 1996, 1997, 1998
AIA/North Carolina Members Services Task Force; Awards Committee, 2000
AIA/North Carolina Members Benefits Task Force, 2002
AIA/North Carolina Facilities Task Force Member, 2005
AIA/North Carolina Center for Architecture Task Force Member, 2006
Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe Co., President, 1992-94, Vice-President, 1990-92, Secretary, 1988-90
League of Women Voters, Treasurer, 1990-92

LECTURES & TEACHING:
“Sustainable Design: New Directions for Affordable Housing”, Lecture and presentation of Case Study Project, Prospect Terrace, Asheville, NC at the National Building Museum, Washington, DC, May 2007
“Managing Change in an Historic Planned Residential Community”, Lecture and slide presentation, National Trust for Historic Preservation National Conference, 1996
“Housing in Appalachia - A Crisis of Resources” - Lecture and slide presentation at Union International de Femme Architects, Univ. of Oregon & Colorado
“Homes & Lifestyles: Choices and Options” - Lecture at UNCA, Center for Creative Retirement
Teaching Assistant - Urban Development Analysis Graduate Seminar, Yale University Graduate School
of Architecture
Research Assistant – Housing Studies, Yale University Graduate School of Architecture

PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS:
American Institute of Architects - Member
US Green Building Council - Member
WNC Green Building Council – Platinum Member
American Planning Association- Member
Urban Land Institute - Member
American Society of Landscape Architects – Affiliate Member
National Trust for Historic Preservation - Member
Preservation/NC – Member
Preservation Society of Asheville-Buncombe County - Member
Junior League of Asheville - Member
League of Women Voters - Member