Adrianna Swindle has joined global architecture and design firm Perkins&Will as a principal and practice leader in the corporate and commercial as well as civic and cultural markets.
Swindle has built her career in San Antonio, designing large-scale, high-impact projects across Texas while rising to the highest levels of local design leadership. Working closely with the Dallas, Austin, and Houston studios of Perkins&Will, she will continue to operate out of San Antonio to champion relationship building and drive market growth for the firm.
“I am honored and excited to return to Perkins&Will to take on this meaningful role,” says Swindle, who worked for the firm from 2009 to 2013. “This firm was a pivotal part of my early architecture career, and I have such strong admiration for its commitment to sustainability, dedication to communities, and global impact. San Antonio is a wonderful city, and it is so significant to have this opportunity to promote design excellence and contribute to economic development and the advancement of locally grown professionals.”
Contextually Responsive Architecture and Community-Oriented Leadership
The core of Swindle’s design philosophy is service to the community. She has spent 15 years delivering sustainable, contextually responsive architecture with major projects like the Central Library in Austin, HEB’s tech hub in San Antonio, and the El Paso Water Headquarters. In all her projects, from large-scale civic work to innovative workspace design and branding through architecture, she emphasizes community involvement and representation.
A San Antonio native, Swindle is a long-time advocate for the development and visibility of local design professionals. She has invested a significant amount of time and energy in the San Antonio AIA chapter, leading to her tenure as board president in 2021 and then Texas Society of Architects (TxA) director in 2022. Swindle has also worked with Urban Land Institute (ULI) San Antonio on its NEXT initiative to identify and elevate a new generation of leaders for the built environment. The impact of her leadership in these and other efforts, including work on the architecture and planning advisory committee at her alma mater, The University of Texas at San Antonio, were recognized with a Distinguished Alumnus award.
Building a Stronger, More Equitable Design Industry
Swindle is a staunch advocate for increasing diversity and inclusion within the design industry. She co-founded the AIA San Antonio Chapter Latinos in Architecture (LiA) Committee, which received of the AIA National Diversity Recognition Program in 2020. She also established AIA San Antonio’s local Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (J.E.D.I) Taskforce and drove funding for a new scholarship in memory of San Antonio’s first licensed black architect, among other accomplishments.
“We are delighted to welcome Adrianna back to the team,” says Tom Reisenbichler, Southwest region director at Perkins&Will. “She is a versatile designer and a dedicated team manager whose work has made a meaningful difference in a wide variety of communities. Her dedication to advancing equity and well-being in San Antonio and across Texas as a whole is unparalleled and aligns with everything we hope to accomplish here at Perkins&Will.”
Driving Market Growth
Collaborating with the firm’s studios in Texas and across the country, Swindle will remain in San Antonio to bolster Perkins&Will’s presence in the city and drive new business opportunities for the firm. Her hiring dovetails with a period of great economic opportunity across Texas, which led the nation in employment growth in 2023.
