Rate My Professor Jessica Blair

Jessica Blair is a Lecturer in the Discipline of Architecture and Design within the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Griffith University on the Gold Coast campus. She has been appointed to this role since 1 January 2016. Blair holds a Master of Architecture from Griffith University, commencing in February 2013. Her teaching responsibilities include convening design studios such as Design Studio 4: Contextual Awareness (2904ENG) and delivering courses in architectural history. She has also acted as First Year Coordinator in the architecture program. Blair employs progressive pedagogical methods that integrate making, material practices, and critical historical analysis.

Blair is a founding member of the Architecture Et cetera Lab (AEcL), a practice-based research initiative launched in 2020 by herself, Dr. Cecilia Bischeri, and Dr. Zuzana Kovar. The lab fosters the intersection of academic research and architectural practice, producing outputs that are accessible and applicable. Her research focuses on architecture and radicality, temporary architecture, material practices and making, and temporary architectural installations. In 2024, she published 'The Exhibition as Assessment: Design Research in Architectural History' in Research in Arts and Education. This work details her facilitation of an operative architectural history course for Griffith University undergraduates, where assessment occurs via student-curated exhibitions. Students re-interpret historical sources through artifact creation to address research questions, expanding architectural history with design research methods and revitalizing the field for future professionals. Blair has co-curated exhibitions including 'COVID Retrospect: A Reconsidered Domestic Condition' with AEcL and delivered public lectures such as one on empowering communities through purposeful design. She also practices as an architect at Seven Mile Architects in the Northern Rivers region.