TSD

Tau Sigma Delta Iota Hampton Roads chapter has decided to join the new age of communication. They have started their own blog and have decided to join the small online bemis community. We welcome their presence. Tau Sigma Delta Website TSD was responsible for putting together last years successful Diagrama Competion. It brought out healthy competition between the students in the form of diagraming, an essential tool for any designer.

Discussions.

A discussion between 3rd year students about the struggles we go through in our department. Issue at hand:Virginia Prize.

Virginia Prize 2008 was debuted on Friday January 25, 2008. It was Hampton’s turn to write the competition in its usual round robin fashion among the three schools of Architecture in Virginia. Professor’s Daisy Williams and Sarah Robertson wrote a challenging program highlighting the African American history of Fort Monroe. Who knew such lush history were only a few miles from Hampton University.
Students gripe about struggling with concepts, board layouts, and “required” parameters. From observation the winners seem to be the ones who break the rules. These students let go and express their design talents from the “gut.” They just know. It seems as if it is talent but in reality it is the designer’s failures from past design problems that allow him or her to let go of their design inhibitions and design. Not all win but designing in such a fashion makes the experience more enjoyable. Pinning up among your colleagues isn’t so dreadful. The final product belongs to the designer, win or lose the designer grows. Here is the competition website for the Virginia Prize 2008 for those interested.

ImagiNations finalist

Four Hampton thesis students were selected in the 2007 ImagiNations competition. After a creativley free studio coordinated by Shannon Chance, the "Worlds Apart" team designed an incredible entry that landed them a chance to pitch it to Disney's ImagiNations team. Congratulations once again to Nicole Knight, Nick Smith, Howard Mack, and Justin Harris. Here is a small clip of their presentation.


Hampton ImagiNations Video Clip

Studio Culture

We will be discussing the studio culture policy that various students came up with last semester. Please plan to attend.

Elbert Whitfield on Stations

Elbert Whitefield discusses his experiences on the first year project “Stations.” He was a bit nervous during the video interview but an informative dialog into the life of a Bemis Newbie.

Reach out and expand

Debby Deck-Suarez a fifth year thesis student is reaching out to others to discuss architecture and her thesis as well.

"Using street sections and massing models as discovery tools, I plan to investigate diagrams for the design of intergenerational communities allowing for independent, active and accessible life regardless of age."

Looking forward to seeing what her thesis develops into. You can read more about her thesis and other architecture related topics on her website arquitalks.

Welcome

Hi all. Welcome to Bemis thoughts, an alternative way of communicating. Bemis thoughts will serve as the home base for the Hampton student architecture blogs and will update readers on Bemis current events. This is a new journey for those who are participating and all are welcome to join the conversations and share in expanding Hampton Architecture’s network. Please adhere to the protocol stated in the “Our Bemis” blog.

(This blog site is dedicated to the promotion of a healthy learning environment within the walls of The Hampton University Department of Architecture a.k.a. Bemis Lab. It is intended that all members of the Bemis family (faculty, students, staff, and alumni) may freely and openly express their ideas, opinions, and experiences concerning "Bemis Life", for the enrichment of all. Those who post, have the choice to remain anonymous, or identify themselves at their discretion. It is however not an option to use this site to ridicule, harm, isolate, or harass any fellow user or individual. This website is a digital extension of the physical space of the Department. All applicable rules regarding ethics and conduct should be maintained. Any comments deemed abusive will be promptly removed from this site)