Jay Smith  |  AIA, Leed AP

Principal | Design Director

A Design Director and Principal for corporate, commercial and institutional building types and master plans, Jay’s approach inspires and integrates the ideas of team members from all disciplines and levels of experience. He leads the firm’s recruiting and mentoring programs to build the firm’s collaborative studio culture. Jay’s strength as an analytical thinker enhances his leadership across all phases of complex, large-scale projects. He appreciates the reciprocal relationship between ideas and making: the process of one can inform that of the other. Together, the two aspects of creation allow for new concepts and unexpected results to emerge.

Since joining Duda|Paine Architects twenty years ago, Jay continues to explore the interactions between art, building and landscape to influence the studio’s design work. His notable projects include The Republic and 405 Colorado in Austin, NC Central University Student Center in Durham, NCR Global Headquarters in Atlanta and Downtown South, one of the first mass timber buildings in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jay’s experience in master planning, including for UNC Pembroke, Brown-Forman, UNC Asheville, and Appalachian State University, provides comprehensive campus development guidelines that resonate with academic and corporate communities. 

Before joining the firm, Jay gained professional experience at Machado-Silvetti Associates in Boston and Wolf Associates in Malibu. He has taught as a Professor of Practice at the NC State’s College of Design, served as chair of the AIA Triangle Design Awards, and routinely serves as a guest critic, seminar leader, panelist and mentor at universities across the southeast. On the AIA Triangle Board of Directors and chair of the K-12 Education Outreach Task Force, Jay promotes awareness of the profession, engages the community, and underscores the impact of architecture on the world to emerging talent through mentorship and teaching.

Master of Architecture, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Bachelor of Arts, Hampden-Sydney College

Organizations
American Institute of Architects

American Institute of Architects, Triangle Board of Directors

American Institute of Architects, Triangle K-12 Education Outreach Task Force

U.S. Green Building Council