Originally from San Diego, Matt Maneval, AIA grew up surrounded by new construction and development. This early exposure to architecture led him to attend the Summer Exploration of Architecture program for high school students at the University of Southern California. This month long program introduced him to basic concepts of architecture and sketching, and had such a great impact on him that he attended USC’s five year Bachelor of Architecture program and eventually become a Teaching Assistant at the same summer program he attended.
While at USC, Matt studied abroad in Barcelona through a collaborative design studio with Spanish students and also volunteered teaching a creativity class to elementary school students through the USC’s Joint Educational Project. He also interned at HMC Architects, Innovation and Design in Architecture and The Autry National Center, where he worked on a variety of projects from healthcare to museum exhibit design. Matt’s graduate thesis explored the potential of 3D scanning and printing systems as a design tool and was nominated for material and innovation thesis awards.
After graduating from USC in 2015, Matt accepted a position at the Los Angeles architecture firm Modative. He worked on several design-build small-lot subdivision projects where he was involved in all aspects of each project from preliminary site planning to giving neighborhood outreach presentations. In 2016, Matt moved to Oakland where he returned to HMC Architects as a Designer, eventually being promoted to Project Coordinator.
Matt is currently working on Higher Education projects including a physical education complex and a fine arts complex in the East Bay. Apart from project responsibilities, Matt is also involved with HMC’s Designing Futures Foundation and helped coordinate HMC’s participation in charitable events like the LEAP Sandcastle Classic. Matt received his California Architect’s license in early 2018 after taking all licensure exams in one year and is an active contributor to HMC’s licensure committee.
Outside of the office, Matt enjoys playing piano and volunteering as a Big Brother with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area.