Byron Mouton
Director of URBANbuild, Lacey Senior Professor of Practice - Architecture
Areas of Expertise
Biography
Byron J. Mouton is an established architect, educator, New Orleans native, and alumnus of Tulane University. He has traveled a path from New Orleans through Harvard’s Graduate School of Design to professional practice in Central Europe, and eventually back at home. He now finds himself committed to building his locally-based practice BILD Design, in conjunction with his academic role as Professor of Practice at Tulane’s School of Architecture, Director of the school’s design/build program URBANbuild. From 2011-2014, he served as one of the founding endowed Social Entrepreneurship Professors in the university-wide program in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (SISE).
With more than 20 years of experience in the fields of architecture and construction, several award-winning projects, and exposure in national and international publications, Byron is committed to critical assignments that exemplify a collaborative planning approach and a dedication to the regional remediation of New Orleans. As a local, Byron understands the impact of pre-Katrina problems on a post-Katrina world and the challenges set forth. The comprehensive nature of such tasks fuels his investigations in pursuit of progressive contextual infill possibilities that encourage and advance the revitalization of New Orleans’ urban fabric. Over the past 14 years, as Principal of BILD, Byron has explored alternative models for affordable housing within the context of the city’s sometimes peculiar setting, and he continues to offer the city progressive options for domestic growth in the face of on-going challenges.
Entering his 18th-year as an instructor with the Tulane School of Architecture, Byron has created a unique opportunity to align practice and academia. Through his involvement in directing design studios, study abroad programs, and the URBANbuild program, Byron has the opportunity to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between practice, teaching and research. By capitalizing on the symbiotic relationship between his practice and his teaching, he can bring together clients, students, community organizations, visiting academic groups, industry leaders, non-profit organizations, and governing agencies - educating a wider audience to the issues of quality design and construction, while also improving and enhancing the aesthetic, economic and ecological environment of projects and developmental opportunities.
Education
Harvard University
Tulane University School of Architecture
Accomplishments
AIA New Orleans Design Award – Honor Award
\URBANbuild 8/Lasalle Market - with Tulane School of Architecture's URBANbuild Program (2014)
Media Appearances
Tulane architecture students turn a class project into a contemporary residence
The class operates like a full-time job, with students expected to spend six days a week on the job site, said Tulane architecture professor and URBANbuild director Byron Mouton. Licensed general contractor Anthony Christiana serves as lead contractor.
In the fall, the students create various architectural design schemes for an affordable residence; at midterm, they vote on the one that will be built. "Then they all work together as a group on the development," Mouton said.
Former Terps remember Maryland's 2001 Final Four and 2002 national championship teams
Baxter said that Maryland's exit from the 2000 NCAA tournament, along with a Tulane transfer named Byron Mouton the following year, might have been the fuel for the two Final Four runs.
A 35-point defeat in the second round to UCLA, which equaled the largest margin of defeat for any Maryland team in the NCAA tournament, had that kind of effect. The addition of Mouton, who went from a scorer to a defensive stopper, was the final piece.
"The UCLA game was a complete disaster. Things just went wrong from the jump," Baxter said. "After that, we really emerged coming into our junior year. Me, Juan, Byron Mouton. He was one of the key pieces we really needed to compete in the ACC and the tournament. He gave us the lift we really needed"...
A Decade after Katrina, Tulane Expands Its Social Innovation Agenda
Following Hurricane Katrina, URBANbuild turned its focus toward designing for the immediate community as it dealt with the consequences of the natural disaster. “We had an opportunity and a responsibility to help the communities in a much greater way,” Byron Mouton, director of URBANbuild, says. “Helping people who decided to return to understand that they had access to greater options.” Since its inception, the program has spearheaded the design and execution of 10 projects, including affordable housing in underserved areas and even a pop-up community market—all have had a small-scale but deeply-felt impact on the urban fabric of New Orleans...
