Blais and collaborators, including John Bell, Ippolito, and Owen Smith, developed The Pool, an online project design workspace noted by the Chronicle of Higher Education as a "new avenue for new-media scholars to do their jobs."
In 2008 Blais expanded this work from the university to community contexts as a partner and equity member of Belfast Cohousing & Ecovillage, whose net-zero prototype house was the US Green Building Council's 2011 Project of the Year [REF].