Jennifer Smith

Master of Architecture, North Carolina State University 2017
Bachelor of Architecture, Auburn University 2010
Bachelor of Interior Architecture, Auburn University, 2010

AIA, NCARB, Registered Architect in Alabama

Jennifer Smith is an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at Auburn University. She is a believer that all education should include design education. A myriad of professions benefit from integrating the design thinking process as contemporary challenges in society and within the constructed landscape emerge from siloed responses struggling to innovate systematically. The Environmental Design program focuses, in part, on this goal as students respond to problems in the built environment through appropriate and contextualized artifacts, systems, and processes, untethered to traditional disciplinary boundaries. She is an architect with ten years of experience in professional practice. At a young age she decided that Architecture was the path for her due to the simple fact that she witnessed an urban public space be enjoyed by many, diverse people. Even then, her young self recognized what a precious gift public space is for all residents. Today, that conviction remains when advocating for quality, equitable public space that is free from land privatization. As such, her path has evolved to design practice nested within and beyond the property line. Her experience in professional practice has proven the interdependent nature of systems and how one architecture project has ramifications at larger scales whether they are economic, social, environmental, political, or a combination of these. This compels her to further investigate and advocate for social and environmental infrastructure beyond the confines of the architect’s scope of work—the owner’s property line. The more design can consider existing and future interdependent systems and integrate opportunities at various scales, the more successful a project will be at responding to contemporary complexities. Currently, her research focuses on post-disaster housing and making evident the histories embedded in our everyday landscapes. This research emerges from a deep interest in one’s attachment to place and culture and the trauma accompanying displacement. If you’re interested in collaborating on a future project, please reach out.

Interest areas in research and practice:
Post-disaster housing, resilient public space