LJC/TSU Student Housing

About

Through our practicum class, my group of Andres Rodriguez, Ryan Walker, and I worked with our professor Sarah Faust to construct and execute this project with Lamar Johnson Collaborative (LJC).

Our objective focused on advancing student housing tailored for Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students. We intended to investigate the utilization of physical materials, large-scale applications, and engaged in an in-depth exploration of the site’s rich history to cultivate a transformative and culturally resonant living environment.

We were tasked with creating a strong identity for a new student housing development consisting of two buildings in Nashville that will be accommodating Tennessee State University students, but is not specific to TSU.

In the beginning, we took a deep dive into finding meaningful colors, symbols, and patterns to use within this project. While researching Nashville and the south, I found a rich history of quilts and their uses which heavily inspired our color palette and patterns. The colors are reminiscent of a faded rainbow (or a faded quilt!) while the patterns are pulled from quilts and African Adinkra symbols.

Colors, symbols, and patterns by Madison Phillips, Andres Rodriguez.

Alongside our historical tie-ins, we also searched for modern connections between our branding and Nashville. This inspired the names for each of the buildings and the overall brand. Reverb and Riff come together to form R&R.

From here, we created a number of deliverables and concepts to strengthen our brand identity. Also, to further identify each building, we assigned Riff the warm tones in our palette while Reverb got the cool tones.

Logos by Madison Phillips, Andres Rodriguez.