Jonathan Boelkins is an architect, writer, and teacher.
As an architect with over 20 years of experience, Jonathan has consistently created award-winning architecture in a variety of roles.
Currently, Jonathan is the Exhibition Architect and Project Coordinator for the US Pavilion at the 19th Architecture Biennale, working closely with Lead Commissioner and Dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture, Peter MacKeith, and the design team of Marlon Blackwell Architects, D.I.R.T. Studio and TENxTEN Studio, and Stephen Burks Man Made. PORCH has been featured in the New York Times, the Financial Times, and in Wallpaper. He has also designed a series of exhibitions for ‘A South Forty: Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South’ with multiple installations in Italy and the United States, most recently at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
Jonathan is an advocate for mass timber architecture and construction, especially through his ongoing involvement as the Owner’s Representative for the University of Arkansas in the commissioning, fundraising, design, construction, and promotion of the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, by Pritzker Prize winning Grafton Architects.
Formerly the Studio Director of the internationally acclaimed design firm Marlon Blackwell Architects, Jonathan made significant contributions to the design, completion, and documentation of numerous projects including the Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Saint Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church, the Fay Jones School of Architecture, Shelby Farms Park, and the Porchdog House, each receiving Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects. Saint Nicholas also received international recognition as the Best Civic and Community Building at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona in 2011.
As a writer, Jonathan is a Co-Editor with Peter MacKeith of a monograph titled Radical Practice: The Work of Marlon Blackwell Architects, winner of the 2023 PenCraft Book Award for Nonfiction | Historical + Cultural. His writing partnership with Marlon Blackwell has been featured in several books, including essays in Brian Healy Architects’ monograph Commonplaces: Working on an American Architecture and Jones Studio’s monograph Strive. He also authored an introductory essay in the book From Penitentiary to Park about Shelby Farms Park in Memphis and the collaboration of Marlon Blackwell Architects and James Corner Field Operations.
A versatile and experienced teacher, Jonathan taught advanced design studios, professional practice, and courses in construction detailing and digital tools at the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and at the University of Louisiana Lafayette from 2015-2025. He received his Master’s Degree in Advanced Architectural Design as a Danforth Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis (2015) and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Arkansas (2004) and in Business Administration from Geneva College (1996).