Wes McRae | Atlanta, GA – February 5, 2026

Returning to Georgia Tech's School of Architecture for the Student Org Lecture, Jennifer Bonner spoke on her work mixing fake, structural, and ordinary materials, the Atlanta creative scene, and her upcoming project with LOOP in Georgia Tech's new Creative Quarter.

"Today was about mixing materiality, you know, structural, fake, and ordinary concepts together, so I showed a series of projects where I deploy different amounts of those concepts, in kind of like a recipe, to make each of the projects," Bonner said. "Something slightly different that I haven't done in previous lectures is to share the work of artists and Atlanta's creative class, some of whom are in the room today."

"What I was trying to show is how exciting it has been to meet artists in Atlanta who kind of took over Haus Gables and made their work inside of it, and that was just very inspiring to see. I think, because you all live in Atlanta, you kind of forget how special it is. There is an energy amongst the creative class in Atlanta."

Although Bonner's design practice, MALL, is based in Portland, Bonner maintains close ties with Atlanta. "When I started teaching here in 2009, there was a lot of support from the leadership," Bonner said. "There was an openness that was very exciting for me. It was hard and challenging, but the work literally was born out of Atlanta. Every single Domestic Hats model was cut on the foam cutter in the Digital Fabrication Lab."

"Georgia Tech has been absolutely foundational to my teaching and the kick-starting of MALL."
 

“Jennifer brought a special kind of energy to the School of Architecture early on," said Julie Kim, William H. Harrison Professor and School Chair. "She was curious, inventive, and unafraid to push ideas further than expected. I’ve loved watching the way her career has grown since she left, each step marked by clarity, confidence, and a deep commitment to the work.”

Bonner has been working on LOOP, in the redeveloped former Randall Brothers Building. "My project's temporary, so it's only going be in existence for three years, but I think it's going to be exciting because of the amount of folks that are going to use it in compelling, curated ways," Bonner said. "That's due to the Goat Farm's very thought-through programming efforts."

"There's several art and design curators that are locally, nationally, and internationally known, and also a concert producer, so that mix of people working on the site is going to create a lot of interesting outcomes, I think."