Byron Mouton

Director of URBANbuild

Lacey Senior Professor of Practice - Architecture

Byron J. Mouton is an established architect, educator, New Orleans native, and alumnus of Tulane University. He has traveled a path from New Orleans through Harvard’s Graduate School of Design to professional practice in Central Europe, and eventually back home. He now finds himself committed to his locally-based practice BILD Design, in conjunction with his academic role as Senior Professor of Practice at Tulane’s School of Architecture, Director of the school’s design/build program URBANbuild. From 2011-2014 he served as one of the founding endowed Social Entrepreneurship Professors in the university-wide program in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (SISE).

With more than 30 years of experience in the fields of architecture and construction, several award-winning projects, and exposure in national and international publications, Byron is committed to critical assignments that exemplify a collaborative planning approach and a dedication to the regional remediation of New Orleans. As a local, Byron understands the impact of pre-Katrina problems on a post-Katrina world and the challenges set forth. The comprehensive nature of such tasks fuels his investigations in pursuit of progressive contextual infill possibilities that encourage and advance the revitalization of New Orleans’ urban fabric. Over the past 26 years, as Principal of BILD, Byron has explored alternative models for affordable housing within the context of the city’s sometimes peculiar setting, and he continues to offer the city progressive options for domestic growth in the face of on-going challenges.

Through his involvement directing design studios, study abroad programs, and the URBANbuild program, Byron has the opportunity to promote an interdisciplinary dialogue between practice, teaching, and research.

As an instructor with the Tulane School of Architecture since 1998, Byron has created a unique opportunity to align practice and academia. By capitalizing on the symbiotic relationship between his practice and his teaching, he can bring together clients, students, community organizations, visiting academic groups, industry leaders, non-profit organizations, and governing agencies - educating a wider audience to the issues of quality design and construction, while also improving and enhancing the aesthetic, economic and ecological environment of projects and developmental opportunities.

Byron has been an invited studio critic and speaker at a number of universities, nationally and internationally. He often volunteers his time to participate in local panels related to New Orleans’ built environment and was actively involved in the 2011 National American Institute of Architects Convention, hosted in New Orleans.