Jonathan LeJune holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Louisiana State University and a Master of Science in Design Research from the University of Michigan. His design research posits the demolition of monolithic institutions by accepting the digital methodologies of networks. The work, which exists across scales and disciplines, from graphic design to community based design to the design of landscapes, constantly interrogates the cultural conditions of place and the institutions that operate within geopolitical landscapes.
My interests lie in social responses to the agitation of ubiquitous environments through architectural interventions in post-digital urbanism. Categorized through a resistance to reduce place to location, this work is about an urbanism that is networked but not contiguous. Sites of intervention are marked, in such a way as to describe a set, an archipelago, however, the set is not geographically stitched together, rather connections are virtual rather than physical.
Rather than placing emphasis on the location of specific sites marked on the map, these projects were chosen for their propensity to be at once highly specific spots of intervention while at the same time being part of a larger geopolitical condition which facilitates a conversation around those specific works not just as doing work on that particular site, but on sites like it everywhere. In this way, the work compiled here it is both over- and under- specified in its detailing, allowing for kinds of inequalities perpetuated by institutionalized objects to be rethought and reworked to benefit the marginalized.
Mankouche + Schulte, Ann Arbor, MI, US, Research Assistant
Worked to finalize the design for Project Reach, the Farm, a Master plan for a rural outreach center for urban youth in Fleischmanns, NY. The project was funded through an Arts of Citizenship Grant, and won a 2013 Progressive Architecture Award. My roles included architectural and graphic design as well as assisting with the framing of the project for the P/A award submission.
LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, Baton Rouge, LA, US, Student Researcher
As part of an interdisciplinary team that included architects, landscape architects, environmental engineers, and cultural historians, we produced The Delta Floods, a documentary on the Spring 2011 flood of the Mississippi River. I was charged with video editing and the production of a series of architectural interventions that would reframe the conversation around flood waters in the Mississippi Delta.
Communityworks, LSU Office of Community Design and Development, Baton Rouge, LA, US, Chancellor's Scholar
In collaboration with two other students, served as the designer of the Belle Chasse River Pavilion and Woodlands Interpretive Center Projects. The projects were grant funded and brought through schematic design. Curated a retrospective for the ten year anniversary of the office.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, US, Masters, MS in Architecture, Design Research
Exploring spatial affiliations between institutions, territories and subjects, the MS_DR seeks new models of practice within a contemporary digital culture that compels us to do so.
The Master of Science Design Research program (MS_DR) is a two semester, post-professional degree program that posits architectural studio work as a research protocol. The 30 credit-hour curriculum is constructed around a two-semester studio/seminar combination that asserts ideas, ideation, and the making of theory as grounds for an independently pursued research path. Studio work attempts to place architecture deep inside its cultural site of reckoning, working vividly with media influences, technological imperatives, and representational biases within contemporary digital culture. The seminar colludes with this studio emphasis, deflecting studio practices through the heuristic making and leveraging of theory across a multitude of considerations within design research.
Progressive Architecture Award, Award
The Farm – Gaming Strategies for Empowering Marginalized Youth
Location: Fleischmanns, N.Y.
Client: Project Reach
Architect: Steven Mankouche and Matthew Schulte, Ann Arbor, Mich.—Steven Mankouche, Matthew Schulte (principals); Charles Veneklase, Melinda Rouse, Jono Sturt, Jonathan LeJune, Claire Sheridan, Abigail Murray, Andrew Thompson, Richard Turskey, Julie Simpson (design team)
Project Funding University of Michigan, Arts of Citizenship; University of Michigan, Office of the Vice-President for Research; Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning
Douglas Haskill Award for Student Journals: Center for Architecture Foundation, 1st Place
Founded to encourage student journalism on architecture, planning and related subjects, and to foster regard for intelligent criticism among future professionals. The award is intended to support the ongoing publication of student-edited journals whose subject matter could include architectural design, history, and theory.
Co-Editor with Kristen Kelsch, Contexture: Freshly Cut, Volume 2 Issue 2
Published annually for the Louisiana State University School of Architecture.
Chase Community Development Competition, 1st Place
National Competition ($25,000 grant for our non-profit partner CSED)
5523 St. Claude: Bringing Fresh Food to the Lower Ninth Ward
Adaptive Reuse design for a grocery store in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans
Worked as part of an interdisciplinary team of LSU Architecture, UNO Planning, and DePaul University Business students.
