M.Arch, Bartlett School of Architecture, UK, 1994

Biography

Jason Griffiths is a United Kingdom (UK) registered architect and associate professor in the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. In 2015 he was awarded the Hyde Chair of Excellence and is currently a W. Cecil Steward Professor of Sustainability.

Griffiths’ work explores a transdisciplinary approach to engineered lumber, normative systems of architecture and forestry production. His work combines the study of “ordinary” buildings with the emerging technology of cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction through built projects, architectural writing and funded research. His teaching practice engages architecture students with design-build projects in collaboration with non-profit organizations, CLT manufacturers and academic institutions.

Griffiths received his Master’s in Architecture with distinction from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UK, in 1994 and began a career that mixed practice with teaching and competition work. After his first competition win, he was invited to teach with Sir Peter Cook on the Bartlett’s M. Arch. and Dip 9 Unit with Professor David Greene. During the 90s he built a portfolio of competition prizes and teaching positions in London and Oxford. He co-directed graduate studies at the University of Westminster and was senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes University. In 2003 he moved to North America and taught at the Tech de Monterrey, University of Texas at Austin, Iowa State University and Arizona State University. He has also held visiting positions at ESTAM in Madrid, the AA Visiting School in Chengdu, Sharda University in Delhi and Nirma University in Ahmedabad and from 2017-19 was professor of summer immersion at The School of Architecture at Taliesin in Wisconsin. Griffiths has lectured widely throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

Griffiths’ teaching career is paralleled with architectural competition work winning prizes in eleven competitions including first prize in both the AA FAB 2009, Temple of Laughter, Millennium Café competitions. Other competition prizes include Future Visions of Kyoto, Aomori Housing, Shinkenchiku Residential Design (three times) and the Oklahoma Memorial.

In 2018 he established PLAIN Design-Build to integrate engineered lumber construction with design-build pedagogy at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He is responsible for the first three CLT buildings within Great Plains region with projects for The Baxa Fellowship Residence, the South Sioux City Orchard Facility and the Santee Sioux Child Resource Center. Other projects include Emerge at the Bauman Tree Farm in Eugene, Oregon, and Mazo in Wisconsin along with recent projects in Delhi and Ahmedabad.

His work with PLAIN has been recognized by 2017 WoodWorks/ Wood Products Council Wood Design Award, the 2019 and 2020 ACSA Design-Build Awards. Griffiths also received a 2017 USDA Forest Service Wood Innovations grant and 2020 Nebraska Environmental Trust grant.

Griffiths’ book Manifest Destiny – A Guide to the Essential Indifference of American Housing” Published by the Architectural Association Press explores a visual anthropology of the North American suburbs. Following its publication Mr. Griffiths received the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) book award (Typology) at the Frankfurt Book Fair and was included as one of the ten entries in “2011 year in review: Best in architecture” by Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne. Other publications include chapters in recent issues of 306090 through Princeton Architectural Press, Volume Magazine, Mas Context and regular contributions to UnCube. He has also been published in AA Files, Architecture, JA, JAE and the Sunday Times.

Griffiths’ professional practice is based on a multidisciplinary approach to architecture working through buildings, competitions, public art, writing and photography. Built work includes The Lowest House and the Duerinckx Residence along with public art and furniture installations for the City of Tempe. He has exhibited work in London and North America including the solo exhibition Not What We Bought at Project Row Houses in Houston.