Julien Jalbert is Named to the New England Home 5 Under 40 Class of 2025

Portriat by Bruce Rogovin

Photograph by Jeff Roberts

Photograph by Darren Setlow

Photograph by Darren Setlow

Photograph by Jeff Roberts

Growing up in rural New Hampshire with a self-taught architect and builder for a dad and a teacher for a mom, Julien Jalbert learned how to design, construct, and fix just about anything. “My father imparted all his skills to me,” says Jalbert, an architect with Knickerbocker Group, a design-build firm with offices in Portland and Boothbay, Maine.

Now thirty-eight, Jalbert was preparing for his vocation in every practical way, but it took a year as a computer science major at Northeastern University for him to realize his calling. He discovered coding really wasn’t for him, so he changed his major to architecture and never looked back. “Immediately I had the sense that ‘these are my people,’ ” he remembers.

In between earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he took a job at Northeastern doing renovations on campus, then he designed restaurants for a small boutique firm. All the while he was sharpening his focus on sustainability. He obtained LEED certification and studied ways to recycle, renew, and combat climate change.

At his Knickerbocker Group interview in 2017, Jalbert shared his thesis on modular construction; once hired, he put his passion for energy efficiency to work. In time, he was asked to study trajectories the firm might take to become more sustainable. That led to the development of the company’s Prefab Pod division. “We figured out how to build homes faster and more efficiently with environmentally responsible, bio-based materials,” he says.

Jalbert lives in a neighborhood of post-World War II homes in South Portland with his wife, Sarah, and their three young sons. Despite his expertise in sustainability, he believes he was chosen for the 5 Under 40 honor because his portfolio is fairly diverse. “I can do vernacular Maine as well as modern and sleek,” he says. “I don’t
stay in one lane.”

This year’s 5 Under 40 awards ceremony will be held on September 18 at The Galleria at 333 Stuart Street in Boston. The festivities will include food, drink, and the chance to catch up with old friends while making new ones. The highlight of the evening is the auction of five unique rugs designed by our 2025 winners and produced by Landry & Arcari Rugs and Carpeting, with all proceeds supporting a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating women from South Asia. Click here to purchase tickets.