Jason Blankenship

Adjunct Lecturer

Jason makes inquiry of locational peculiarities, emotive chrysalides, and material finds; a practice of form-substantive reification. He seeks to engage, coordinate and produce the latent potentialities of urban space; homes, courtyards, alleys, the cafe or civic juggernaut, the neighborhood. Connectivity, relationships, the artifact, sensoriality, memories, infrastructural sinew, regions from which we draw resources; these notions guide his work.

Jason regularly embeds himself in the field, alongside collaborators in the building trades. He is certain that a working-knowledge of the physicality of construction leads to better project outcomes. He acknowledges an extant dearth of skilled builders nation-wide and seeks to bridge the gap through personal insertion into the process of building. He is a residential building contractor, licensed to operate in Louisiana, and a practicing architect. He maintains a technical knowledge of the tools and metis of construction. He also occasionally accepts commissions to design and craft furniture pieces. 

Jason harbors and nourishes a deeply held critical perspective on the city, as a form of human cultural expression and individual aspiration. The city, being a shared forum and venue for the endeavoring of mankind to achieve greatness. The city, he perceives as an artifact that ultimately hardens freedom and oppression in forms of tension or into nursery spaces for the synergistic transformation of social and material capital. He feels the city to be an essential creation. He is acutely interested in the study of city and resource hinterland interactions; the evolution of municipal spatial regulations; overzealous prohibitions on human spatial endeavors; and the essential pedestrian “container,” of human activity. 

Jason acquired his Bachelor of Architecture from Auburn University in 2008, and later explored geospatial science at the University of North Alabama through graduate studies fully-funded by research and teaching assistantships. He trained under architects in Seoul, Republic of Korea; Florence, Alabama; Raleigh, North Carolina; and New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a proud father of three young children; all students at Audubon Charter School of New Orleans.