OU Gibbs College is pleased to announce that Jonathan Tate is invited to give a public lecture in the upcoming fall semester. Jonathan Tate is the founder and principal of OJT, an award-winning architecture firm based in New Orleans. OJT was established in 2011 as a creative, expansive, and exploratory practice with a desire to contribute to contemporary discourse.
For his lecture, Tate will discuss his firm’s work and related topical issues that are currently impacting the built environment. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, September 13 at 4 p.m., location TBD.
OJT project "Zimple." Photo by William Crocker.
Tate’s firm has a unique setup that is embedded in both practice and research. His work embraces ideas of community engagement and serving using design to address the challenges of affordable housing and urbanism. Tate’s practice focuses on reworking normative, overlooked, and familiar project types by integrating new designs with situational conditions. Every project is designed to belong and contribute to its original location while communicating with a lineage of associative built work.
OJT project "St. Thomas at 9th." Photo by William Crocker.
His firm offers architecture and urban design services as well as planning, interiors, graphic design, development consulting, historic preservation, and affordable housing activities. Most of his projects are focused in New Orleans, but his firm has completed several others across the U.S. and internationally. His firm’s clients include CDCs, NDCs, non-profits, institutions, governments, private developers, and individuals. Along with his work at OJT, Tate has also served as a visiting and adjunct professor at the Tulane School of Architecture.
For more information, contact Amy Leveno (amyleveno@ou.edu).
Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Petya Stefanoff, who is pursuing her doctorate in the Planning, Design & Construction (PDC) program, has been appointed the new role of Director of Community Development for the City of Shawnee, Oklahoma. She joined the city in 2024.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design and director of the Institute for Quality Communities, has received national recognition for her book Model Schools in the Model City. The book has been named a finalist for the 2026 the PROSE Awards.
Gibbs College of Architecture Regional + City Planning Professor of Practice Vanessa Morrison and Associate Professor of Architecture Deborah Richards’ Open Design Collective received top honors at the inaugural BlackSpace Urbanist Collective Studio KIN Pitch Night Competition, held last month in Brooklyn, New York City.
