Blair Begnaud graduated from the Ā鶹AV School of Architecture & Design in 2017 with her Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies. She continued her studies at Ā鶹AV to earn her in 2019.
āAs I moved forward into graduate school for a Master of Architecture, I accepted a graduate assistantship with the Office of Sustainability at Ā鶹AV under the excellent mentorship of Gretchen Vanicor. This was the job that shaped my interest in sustainability and inspired me to focus my career on sustainable architecture,ā Blair said.
She is now an architectural designer at Modus Studio in Fayetteville, Ark., where she has continued her specialization in sustainability and became a LEED Green Associate in 2019.
During her time at Ā鶹AV, Blair worked on many projects.
āI was part of a team that built a tiny house called the for one of the 2016 flood victims," she said. "Additionally, with the Office of Sustainability, I was able to work on two interdisciplinary teams. . And then in 2019, another team I was part of participated in the and took first place.ā
Blairās studies also took her to Europe for Study Abroad.
āI took the study abroad trip in the summer of graduate school with Dan Burkett. It was fantastic getting to just simply sit, admire, and sketch architecture all over Italy,ā she said about her favorite class. āMy sketchbooks from those classes are some of my most treasured possessions.ā
Blair stayed busy as an undergraduate student with time spent in a special projects class designing a new type of enclosure for a woman to safely breastfeed or pump. With their final design, the group applied for a design patent.
She also mentored first-year design students in the Universityās : āThis was one of my favorite experiences in school and I made some wonderful friends while doing this.ā
Blair says her choice to attend Ā鶹AV came easily ā she attended summer art camps in Fletcher Hall as a child and is a third-generation Ā鶹AV student.
āI felt it was always part of the plan,ā she said.
