Courtesy OJT

Firm name: OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)
Location: New Orleans
Year founded: 2011
Firm leadership: Jonathan Tate
Education: B.Arch., Auburn University Rural Studio; M.Des., Harvard Graduate School of Design
Experience: Mockbee/Coker then Buildingstudio
Firm size: Six to eight

Mission:
Revel in complexity to make something concise and artful.

First commission:
We had a peculiar start with a multifamily housing project in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. Due to a series of extenuating circumstances, the project was built halfway, and then torn down. Twice. There is a parking lot on the site now.

OJT’s Starter Home research proposes reconceptualizing the thousands of empty and irregularly shaped lots in New Orleans to be viable for development by “embracing fluidity” of residential design, structural orientation, layout, and square footage.
Courtesy OJT OJT’s Starter Home research proposes reconceptualizing the thousands of empty and irregularly shaped lots in New Orleans to be viable for development by “embracing fluidity” of residential design, structural orientation, layout, and square footage.

Favorite project:
As with children, you love them all, but differently. That said, the projects that stick around our consciousnesses are those that successfully embrace a myriad of concerns and resulted in clear, assertive solutions. We’ve tended to hit the mark with our housing in New Orleans. Something about the neighborhood context there enables and highlights newness while connecting to a historic lineage.

Second favorite project:
All the other ones. We feel privileged to be able to say that, actually. Over our short history, we've not had many if any projects we would not want to showcase.

Origin of firm name:
It’s a bit ironic that the office is titled after someone who has a proclivity to self-deprecate. Short-term decisions often lead to long-term uncomfortableness. To rectify this, we currently have an internal competition to cleverly reassign the letters of the acronym.

A 2018 AIA Housing Award winner, this single-family structure in New Orleans was the first test site for OJT’s Starter Home thesis.
Will Crocker A 2018 AIA Housing Award winner, this single-family structure in New Orleans was the first test site for OJT’s Starter Home thesis.
Will Crocker
Will Crocker

Special item in your studio space:
Our family of ferns—nothing like plants to make a space feel like home.

Design tool of choice:
3D printer. There is nothing more gratifying than having a computer model come to life as a colorful plastic piece.

In their Wetland Urbanism (Miscellaneous Tactics, 2015) research book, co-editors Tate, Rebecca Fitzgerald, and Ann Yoachim explore the “paradoxical struggle” of accommodating resource extraction industries in Southeastern Louisiana while prioritizing the natural environment.
Courtesy OJT In their Wetland Urbanism (Miscellaneous Tactics, 2015) research book, co-editors Tate, Rebecca Fitzgerald, and Ann Yoachim explore the “paradoxical struggle” of accommodating resource extraction industries in Southeastern Louisiana while prioritizing the natural environment.
Courtesy OJT

Design aggravation:
Brushed chrome Schluter trim.

Memorable learning experience:
Taking on the role of developer and architect for our Starter Home projects has taught us to make our own opportunities. When nobody came asking for us to do what we were talking about, we had to move out of the realm of abstract and into something real in order to prove it. Some of our more fruitful projects have been realized through alternative and uncommon development and funding processes that we have initiated.

The firm built a new single-family residence on a site occupied by an existing house to accommodate three generations of a family. Fit together like puzzle pieces, the two buildings share outdoor space but allow for private circulation.
Will Crocker The firm built a new single-family residence on a site occupied by an existing house to accommodate three generations of a family. Fit together like puzzle pieces, the two buildings share outdoor space but allow for private circulation.
Will Crocker
Will Crocker

The worst criticism you’ve ever received:
N/A—all criticism is productive

Favorite place to get inspired:
Taking phone calls in the Piazza d’Italia here in New Orleans has proven to be pretty inspirational.

The best advice you have ever gotten:
There is always time for lunch.

OJT designed an 8,000-square-foot artist-owned and -run bed-and-breakfast for a vacant lot in New Orleans’ Lower Garden District. Funded initially by a crowdsourced investment of $112,000, the structure will be owned by a co-op of artists who will operate the nine hotel rooms part-time in exchange for residing in one of the building’s four affordable housing units.
Courtesy OJT OJT designed an 8,000-square-foot artist-owned and -run bed-and-breakfast for a vacant lot in New Orleans’ Lower Garden District. Funded initially by a crowdsourced investment of $112,000, the structure will be owned by a co-op of artists who will operate the nine hotel rooms part-time in exchange for residing in one of the building’s four affordable housing units.
Courtesy OJT
Courtesy OJT

Biggest challenge in running a successful practice:
Generating a fresh playlist that accurately anticipates and responds to the office mood and speed every day.

Superstitions:
The only way to see a project completed to our full intent is to be unhealthily involved before, during, and well after construction.

This Housing Northwest Arkansas Competition submission proposes reorienting a conventional mid-rise, mixed-use block into a zigzag to address the shortage of affordable housing in Bentonville, Ark.
This Housing Northwest Arkansas Competition submission proposes reorienting a conventional mid-rise, mixed-use block into a zigzag to address the shortage of affordable housing in Bentonville, Ark.
Courtesy OJT
Courtesy OJT

Skills to master:
Instagram. Too much pressure to post the right image while not feeling like a blatant self-promoter.

Morning person or night owl?
We all get to the office pretty early. Can’t speak for what happens after work.

An idea derived from the Starter Home research, the speculative 9th Street development project replaces an existing warehouse and vacant parcel with 10 single-family residences and one two-family structure.
Courtesy OJT An idea derived from the Starter Home research, the speculative 9th Street development project replaces an existing warehouse and vacant parcel with 10 single-family residences and one two-family structure.

Social media platform of choice:
Instagram

Vice:
French Truck Coffee and chocolate-covered espresso beans. Basically, caffeine in liquid and solid forms.