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Frank Jacobus

Department Head and Professor of Architecture; Stuckeman Chair of Integrative Design
headshot of Frank Jacobus
Contact
frj5058@psu.edu
121 Stuckeman
Instagram frcj
Web www.siloard.com/

Frank Jacobus became the head of the Department of Architecture in Penn State’s Stuckeman School on July 1, 2023. An architect, designer, artist, and educator, he has spent 16 years in higher education, most recently serving as associate department head in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design (FJSOAD) at the University of Arkansas. He is recognized by the American Institute of Architects and is currently the principal of SILO Architecture, Research and Design.

Jacobus’ professional design work and creative practice has received national and international attention for its experimental and resourceful approach. His work with SILO has been recognized with numerous publications, exhibitions, and design awards, including as an Emerging Voice by The Architectural League of New York in 2016, a Next Progressive by Architect Magazine in 2018, and AN Interior’s list of Top 50 American Architects of 2021. In 2022, SILO was chosen by the Walton Family Foundation for inclusion in its Design Excellence Program that uses design to drive vibrant, inclusive communities by promoting the highest level of design in the development of public buildings and spaces. SILO’s work has been featured by The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Architect, the Architect’s Newspaper, Azure, Slate, Dwell, Salon, Fast Company, and others.

Jacobus has taught and coordinated all levels of design studio and has led numerous design-build projects in positions at the University of Idaho and the University of Arkansas. In addition to his administrative position at the University of Arkansas FJSOAD, he served as 21st-Century Chair of Construction and Technology, where he led design-build, fabrication, and advanced technology initiatives.

Jacobus’ published works include “Archi-Graphic: An Infographic Look at Architecture,” by Laurence King in 2015; “The Visual Biography of Color,” by Oro Editions in 2017; “The Making of Things: Modeling Processes and Effects in Architecture,” by Routledge in 2021; “Architectonics and Parametric Thinking,” by Routledge coming in 2023; and “Artificial.Intelligent.Architecture,” by ORO Editions also coming in 2023.

  • Education
    • M.Arch. from the University of Texas at Austin
    • B.Arch. from The Cooper Union
  • Honors + Awards

    HONORS AWARDS

    2022

    • Walton Family Foundation, Design Excellence Program

    2021

    • Architecture Newspaper Interior, Top 50 Firms List
    • Heads House, Honor Award, AIA Charlotte
    • Heads House, Honor Award, AIA North Carolina

    2019

    • Tau Sigma Delta Silver Medallion, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas

    2018

    • Open Studio Residency, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Artist in Residence
    • Named Next Progressive, Architect Magazine, May Issue
    • AIA, Honor Award, Charlotte, NC Chapter [built work], Reflects
    • AIA, Honor Award, Charlotte, NC Chapter [built work], Hillside Rock
    • AIA Merit Award, Arkansas [built work] Hillside Rock
    • AIA Merit Award, North Carolina [built work], Hillside Rock

    2017

    • Groundbreakers Award, Curbed Magazine, Top 10 Finalist
    • Healing House, Finalist, Urban Single-Family Detached, Department of Energy Race to Zero Competition

    2016

    • Emerging Voices Award, Architectural League of New York
    • WAN Awards [Small Spaces} World Architecture News, Reflects

     

  • Publications + Presentations

    PUBLICATIONS/PRESENTATIONS

    PUBLICATIONS

    • Architectonics and Parametric Thinking, linking parametric modeling with architectonic thinking, with Angela Carpenter, Rachel Smith-Loerts, Antonello DiNunzio, and Francesco Bedeschi [Submitted, fall 2023 publication].
    • The Making of Things: Modeling Processes and Effects in Architecture, with Angela Carpenter, Rachel Smith-Loerts, Justin Tucker, and Randal Dickinson, Published, September 2021.
    • The Visual Biography of Color, Oro Editions, Published, March 2017. Reviewed in Dexigner.
    • Archi-Graphic: An Infographic Look at Architecture, Laurence King Publishers, Published, October 2015. Listed as one of the top 25 architecture books by Stratosphere. Listed as a top 50 architecture book by ARCH20 and The Architect’s Guide. Reviewed in Architect Magazine (print and online), Azure, Fast Company, Slate, ArchDaily, Design Boom, Archcritik, Spacing, Archinect, and Hanley Wood.
    • Discovering Architecture: Built Form as Cultural Reflection, e-book, Kendall-Hunt Publishers, January 2014. [editor]

    PUBLIC LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS/WORKSHOPS

    • “Entelechism,” Linocut Workshop at Crystal Bridges, September 2021. FJSOA+D Portfolio Workshop, Presenter, November, 2021.
    • The Future of Wood,” University of Idaho, College of Art and Architecture, March 10, 2020.
    • “Metaphor and Abstraction,” University of Arkansas, Fay Jones School of Architecture, Architectural Theory Guest Lecture, March 28, 2019.
    • “Modernism to the Present,” Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2018.
    • “An Architect’s Cookbook: The Culinary Arts as a Process Model,” Jacobus, Frank, Manack, Marc, ACSA International Conference, Madrid, Spain, June 2018 [Refereed – with Marc Manack].
    • “Remote Control: The Natural Language of Architecture,” Jacobus, Frank, Manack, Marc, ACSA International Conference, Madrid, Spain, June 2018 [Refereed – with Marc Manack].
    • “Big Data and Small Architecture: How Data Can Inform Design,” Jacobus, Frank, Manack, Marc, The Analytics Frontiers Conference, Charlotte, N.C. 29-30 March 2017 [Refereed – with Marc Manack].
    • GOOD|FAST|CHEAP: SILO AR+D,” American Institute of Architects Ohio Chapter Emerging Professionals [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2017.
    • “ON AVERAGE: SILO AR+D,” UNC Charlotte SOA On Location Symposium [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2017.
    • “The Fun Palace 021: SILO AR+D,” Impact Design Hub [Podcast] [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2017.
    • “PUBLIC APPEARANCES: SILO AR+D,” Archeworks, Chicago Illinois [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2017.
    • “GOOD|FAST|CHEAP: SILO AR+D,” University of Texas at Arlington CAAP Lecture Series [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2017.
    • “ON SILO AR+D,” University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture Lecture Series [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2017.
    • “THE SHAPE OF CONTENT,” Survey in Contemporary Art Lecture, Professor Maisels [Invited], 2017.
    • “Emerging Voices: SILO AR+D The Architectural League of New York,” [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2016.
    • “GOOD|FAST|CHEAP: SILO AR+D,” Drury University Hammons School of Architecture 2016 Lecture Series: Impermanence [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2016.
    • “Cross-Pollination: Disciplinary Analogs and their Experiential Connotations,” Council for Educators in Landscape Architecture, Dilemma: Debate, Salt Lake City, Utah, March [Refereed – with Windy Gay], 2016.
    • “Modus Operandi: Meanings and Operations of Landscape, Building, and Interior in Seminal Residential Case Studies,” Council for Educators in Landscape Architecture, Dilemma: Debate, Salt Lake City, Utah, March [Refereed – with Windy Gay], 2016.
    • “Disciplinary Degrees: Thresholds as the Unifying Transitions of Three Disciplines,” Council for Educators in Landscape Architecture, Dilemma: Debate, Salt Lake City, Utah, March [Refereed – with Windy Gay], 2016.
    • “Socialight: SILO AR+D 2012-2015,” Arkansas Arts Center: Architecture and Design Network Lecture Series [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2015.
    • “GOOD|FAST|CHEAP: SILO AR+D,” American Institute of Architects Arkansas Convention [Invited – with Marc Manack], 2015.
    • Diagrams and Abstractions: Machines and Desires,” Presented by Frank Jacobus at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), Globalizing Architecture / Flows and Disruptions annual conference, Miami, FL., April 10-12, 2014. [Refereed]
    • “Identifying Style_Machine Recognition of Greek Temples and Gothic Cathedrals,” Jacobus, F., Lumens, G., McCormack, J., Hartung, J., Presented by Frank Jacobus at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), Globalizing Architecture / Flows and Disruptions conference, Miami, FL., April 10-12, 2014. [Refereed]
    • “Navigating Nevelson: The Use of [Specific] Analogy in Beginning Design Studios,” In Wetzel, C., Johnson, L., Materiality: Essence and Substance, proceedings of the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, Philadelphia, PA, 2014. [Refereed]
    • Beyond Control: Parametrics and Metadesign as a Model for Mass Customization,” Presented by Frank Jacobus and Marc Manack at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) New Constellations / New Ecologies annual conference in the Genetic Systems + Non-Standard Modes of Reproduction session, San Francisco, CA, March 21-24, 2013. [Refereed – with Marc Manack]
    • “Falling Barns: Registers of Social and Economic Evolution in the Arkansas Ozarks,” Presented by Frank Jacobus and Phoebe Lickwar at the Annual Conference of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, Austin, TX, March 27-31, 2013. [Refereed – with Phoebe Lickwar]
    • “Processing Place: Composition vs. Computation,” Presented by Frank Jacobus and Marc Manack at the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, Actions: Making of Place, Philadelphia, PA, April 11-13, 2013. [Refereed – with Marc Manack]
  • Built Works

    BUILT WORKS

    2022

    • Mill Valley Residence, Mill Valley, California [Schematic Design]
    • Markham Hill Redux, Fayetteville, Arkansas [Schematic Design]

    2021

    • Steel Louise Residence, Charlotte, North Carolina [built]. Design and construction documents for a 2,000SF +/- single-family residence in Charlotte, NC.
    • Camino Community Health Center, Charlotte, North Carolina [ongoing]
    • Carolina Farm Trust, Charlotte, North Carolina [ongoing]
    • The Proxy Chair, [with Angie Carpenter] [built]. Experimentation with wood paste printing using an electric caulk gun as a proxy for a robotic arm.

    2020

    • Sossamon Barn, Ozark, Arkansas, [with Carl Smith] [Programming, SD, completed]. Design, programming, site planning, and visualization of an event barn in Ozark, Arkansas.

    2019

    • Polish Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice Italy [with Dr. Lidia Klein and Marc Manack] [unbuilt]
    • Elba Commons – Live-Work Cabins, Elba, AR [with Carl Smith] [SD]. Design, programming, site planning, and visualization of five live-work cabins in a remote region of north central Arkansas along the Little Red River.
    • Ozark Commercial Buildings, Ozark, Arkansas [with Carl Smith] [SD]. Design, site planning, and visualization of a commercial building complex in Ozark, AR.
    • Forza Residence, Canton, Ohio [built]. Schematic design and construction documents for a 1,800SF Single-family residence in Canton, OH.
    • The Type Chair [with Jeff Quantz] [built, algorithm constructed]. 3D-printed Chair, made of PLA plastic, visualized using an optimization algorithm to construct integrated three-dimensional nesting geometry based on minimal user input.
    • Two-Fold Tables [with Jeff Quantz] [unbuilt, algorithm constructed]. Steel coffee table that uses a folding algorithm to convert basic user shapes into three-dimensional table forms.
    • Social Bubbles Chair [test pieces fabricated]. Resin Cast Chair with embedded clear plastic spheres and figurines.
    • 3012 Noda, Charlotte, North Carolina [schematic design]

    2018

    • Boxy Bridge, Fayetteville, AR, completed February 2018 [built]. Design and construction documents for a 2,100SF single-family residence located in downtown Fayetteville, AR.
    • Heads House, Goshen, AR, completed April 2018 [built]. Design, construction documents, and construction administration for a 1,850SF single-family residence located in Goshen, AR.
    • Barnesicle [built]. Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine. Sculptural wooden totem using CNC fabrication.
    • Ribic House, Chagrin Falls, Ohio [Schematic Design]
    • Belmont Agora, Charlotte North Carolina [unbuilt]

    2017

    • Hillside Rock, completed April 2017 [built]. Design, contracting of a 1,750SF +/- single-family residence in Fayetteville, AR.

    2015

    • Fayz Box, Fayetteville, Arkansas [built]
    • Healing House, Charlotte, North Carolina and Fayetteville, Arkansas [Research]. Pre-design, schematic design, design development of a low-income single-family house prototype.
    • Soldier on Dog Service, pro-bono planning work for local service organization,Fayetteville, Arkansas (2015-2018)
    • Reflects, Cleveland, Ohio [built].

    2014

    • HEDGE, ABS Student Center, Fayetteville, Arkansas [schematic design]. Pro-bono work for the Arkansas Baptist Student organization, the Hedge, in Fayetteville, AR. (2014-present)
    • Super Sukkah, St. Louis, Missouri [built]

    2013

    • Ladder+Well: Adult Day Care Center, Beer Sheba, Israel [competition, second stage] [SILO AR+D with Modus Studio]

In the News