Acme Architecture was founded in 2022 by Jessie Gemmer.
We value honesty, trust, generosity, and kindness.
We are listeners - we learn your story so we can turn it into a physical form that reflects exactly who you are.
We believe that good design is a form of magic - that form, proportion, color, and shape are the ingredients that, when handled with care, turn a drab world into one of wonder.
We love what we do.
JESSIE GEMMER
Jessie Gemmer is a registered architect, educator, and the founder of Acme Architecture.
Jessie believes that design is the language we use to give physical form to the ephemeral. Her guiding principle, in the words of Barbara Bestor, is that “everyone should experience strange beauty every day.”
She holds a B.Arch from the Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design, Class of 2011 and has taught studios in Architecture at the University of Virginia, Exhibition Design at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, and currently teaches Interior Design at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her passion for design education requires her to think constantly and critically about the foundational questions of the field of Architecture.
She serves on the Richmond Urban Design Committee, the AIA Virginia Design Forum committee, and the Virginia Tech Architectural Advisory Board. In 2023 she was awarded the AIA Virginia Emerging Architect award. She believes that service is the duty of the privileged and works to give back to the community through volunteer design services for those who cannot hire an architect.
WHY ACME?
When Jessie’s grandfather started a drywall company in Aurora Illinois in the 1950’s, he named it Acme Drywall Co. so that it would be first in the phonebook. Though Google may matter more than the phonebook now, here at Acme we never miss an opportunity to honor a family legacy. Acme can be anything - It is the first in the phone book, the zenith, the brand of products that torment Wile E. Coyote, and a specific generic - but especially a tribute to Jim Gemmer from his granddaughter.