PIVOT
CHILDREN’S COMMUNITY CENTER
Arch 3216
LOCATION: OKLAHOMA CITY
DATE: 2020
TYPE: COMMUNITY CENTER
PROBLEM:
While the homeless population for adolescents between the ages of 12-18 in Oklahoma City is abundant, the number of people willing to help is of great scarcity. Pivot, Inc. is a non-profit community organization with the desire to advocate, educate, and intervene in these kids lives, in hope to make a difference. The current facilities make this desire more difficult to achieve, and do not provide a home for the rehabilitation of broken youth.
sOLUTION:
Each aspect of the design, from the layout of spaces, the facade, parti, and materiality have been designed to pursue well-being and comfort of the occupants by mimicking ways that a home establishes identity, security and rest for its owners. By offering homeless teens a place they can call their own and encouraging community to flourish within the space, the design will deepen teenager’s sense of identity. The overall design and layout of the spaces positively reinforce a secure environment by allowing sightlines across and throughout the building, and while privacy is supported, the use of transparent or translucent partitions provides safety, visually, while enclosing and protecting the occupants. With the engaging environment that constantly seeks the well-being of the staff and teens, those who experience the spaces within the Pivot Community Center will leave feeling a renewed and emboldened hope for their future.
“ a building that creates identity through a sense of place, evokes SECURITY by giving children a home, and facilitates healing through rest and hope for the future.”
