Praxis and Practice

Jennifer Yoos became University of Minnesota’s Head of the School of Architecture in June of 2020. She is an architect and educator and has previously taught as the NADAAA Visiting Professor at Cooper Union, the Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, the John G. Williams Distinguished Professor at the University of Arkansas, and as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota (1997-2015).

Jennifer is principal and president of VJAA. Based in Minneapolis, the firm is known for its innovative approach to architectural practice, environmental design, and highly crafted buildings. VJAA's practice is grounded in the study of how architecture is interwoven with its social, cultural, and material context. VJAA's work is research-based, experimental, and intentionally diverse, including a wide range of scales from urban design and infrastructure to architecture, adaptive reuse, installations, and furniture.

VJAA has received significant recognition, including twenty-two national design awards. The firm has been awarded six National American Institute of Architects Honor Awards, six Progressive Architecture Awards, and two American Institute of Architects/Committee on the Environment--Top Ten Green Building Awards. VJAA is the recipient of the 2012 National American Institute of Architects Firm Award. Jennifer has presented their work as a guest lecturer at numerous schools of architecture.

Jennifer's practice, research, and teaching are grounded in the study of how architecture is interwoven with its social, cultural, and material context. She has developed research and scholarship that explore ideas prevalent in her architectural practice through collaborative publications that include two books; Parallel Cities and a monograph on the work, VJAA, published by Princeton Architectural Press. This work focuses on four themes: Environment and Social Space (which includes sustainability), Digital fabrication and Systems Integration (which includes structures, mechanical systems, thermal properties and daylighting), Embodied Intelligence (as a form of historic preservation), and Urbanism (which is focused on contextualizing the collective social program for architecture). Jennifer is co-author, with partner Vincent James, of a monograph on their practice published by Princeton Architectural Press as well as their recent book Parallel Cities: The Multilevel Metropolis (2016). Parallel Cities: The Multilevel Metropolis, published in 2016, with co-author Vincent James, was preceded by an exhibition at MIT's Keller Gallery (2014) and was included in the exhibition, "Open City" at the International Architecture Biennale, Rotterdam (2009). International Architecture Biennale, Rotterdam (2009).