W. Geoff Gjertson, AIA, is the H/S Lafayette Studio Director and Professor of Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is originally from Huntsville, Alabama, and has lived in the Marshal Islands, Colorado, California, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana.

Gjertson attended Arizona State University (undergrad) and Rice University (graduate). He has been in practice for over 30 years and a professor for more than twenty years. He is the director of the Building Institute, a “hands-on” design/build program that serves the community by building market-rate, sustainably-designed homes, as well as other community projects in urban neighborhoods. Prof. Gjertson’s research has focused on the integration of the professional and academic worlds through educational design/build and community service. He has published over twenty papers and articles in peer-reviewed journals on architectural pedagogy, design, and history, written a book (GENERATING HOPE) on the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home, a chapter in Thinking While Doing: Explorations in Educational Design/Build, and won over a dozen design awards for his professional practice work. His design expertise includes sustainable design, resiliency, material science, residential, educational, and institutional work.

Geoff has been married to Germaine for over 30 years and has two daughters, Alexandra and Elise. He enjoys woodworking and touring the countryside in his 1990 Mazda Miata.