On the Boards: Applaud the Youth Group Home & Youth Center

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Applaud the Youth is a new non-profit organization that increases student’s reading and writing comprehension through creativity and multi-media.  We assisted them with schematic planning and organization of spaces to utilize their existing facilities to accommodate these programs.  Applaud the Youth has two connected buildings that were single-family homes, and our challenge was to create a group home in one building and a youth education center in the other building.

We recommended multiple exterior improvements in order to unify the different facades and to make the building an inviting place to bring children.  Enclosing the front porch and adding an entrance ramp and wheelchair lift improved accessibility to the youth center while facilitating the moving of audiovisual equipment into and out of the space when giving demonstrations off-site.  A bright color scheme was selected to make the facade inviting to children and parents while fitting into the surrounding neighborhood.

The group home portion features multiple group gathering spaces for daily meals and conversation.  Most of the original woodwork from the 1900’s home remain and will be reused in the renovation.  The youth education center part of the project is a more extensive renovation since the existing building was damaged by fire.  The space was divided into multiple large classrooms where sessions can occur simultaneously, but many are connected with double french doors to allow the spaces to be combined into larger rooms for group instruction.

Our space plan drawings and 3D renderings assisted Applaud the Youth stakeholders in visualizing how both buildings can be used to achieve their goals.  We are excited to be involved in the creation of this exciting new youth facility and will keep you updated on the progress.  Visit https://www.applaudtheyouth.com/ for more information on this great organization.

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