mjobrien architect

Michael O’Brien

Currently...Professor in the Department of Architecture at Texas A&M University. 

...Formerly....the William E. Jamerson Professor of Building Construction in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech


B.Arch. North Dakota State University 1976
M.Arch. Virginia Tech 1982
 
Hi. I am an architect who has completed my first year teaching architecture at Texas A&M University.

I taught three years in the Department of Building Construction at Virginia Tech. Before this I've had seventeen years experience teaching architectural design studio, materials and methods courses and seminars in architectural ornament, affordable housing and crime and the environment.

I started teaching North Dakota State University, before joining Virginia Tech in 1987. I am currently the William E. Jamerson Professor of Building Construction and Associate Director for Technology Research at the Virginia Housing Research Center, and was honored to have co-chaired NSF’s national research agenda-setting workshop on Whole House Design with Dr. Carlos Martin.

I have won a few design awards for architectural design with the firms I've worked with. These include the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the New River Valley, Blacksburg, VA and the Casselton State Bank in Casselton ND.

The research I've conducted with Ron Wakefield and Yvan Beliveau has been extensively published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. You can find links to these free reports on the Publications page of this website.

My research on light wood framing has been recognized with a co-curatorship for the National Building Museum in 2000, consulting and on-screen appearances on the Discovery Channel, and a citation in Sports Illustrated. A book on this subject is on my to do list and I hope to finish the field research for this over the next few years.

I was honored to be named President of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium, editor for their conference proceedings and have been similarly honored to be a recipient of the NCARB Prize for Creative Integration of Practice in the Academy as part of the Virginia Tech Solar Decathlon I team.