Bruce Tolbert – BEDA ’82, B.Arch ’83

As an architecture student, one of my most memorable and valuable design studio experiences was one I took during my Junior year, under a former College of Design architecture professor, Spencer Wolfe. We had a semester-long project to design a community center for a site in downtown Durham, NC. Professor Wolfe gave us the option of working with a team and I worked on this project with 2 fellow studio friends. I recall going home to visit my family for the Thanksgiving holiday during that semester but cut my vacation short to return to NC State to work on “the project”. My family could not understand why I felt like I needed to return to school early to work on my studio project deadline. Our team completed a large model for the project and the final “crit” with professors and students had with a strong sense of community with a wonderful exchange of ideas and discussion. I will always remember the feeling of design accomplishment and teamwork that this formative College of Design studio experience provided me.