THE PROJECT - LAVEZZORIO COMMUNITY CENTRE (2004-2008)

Architecture Firm: Studio Gang. 
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA. 
Funding Parties: The City of Chicago, Illinois Housing Development Authority Donation Tax Credits Fund, and Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund.  

RESCUING CHILDREN IN THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO

Riddled with poverty, crime, and a difficult history of segregation, 425 children in the Auburn-Gresham neighbourhood have been given the opportunity to live in a safe environment that encourages the importance of play, education, and growth. The SOS Children's Villages International is an organization dedicated to ensuring children of various backgrounds, within third and first world countries, are provided the bare necessities, as well as the chance to overcome their individual suffering & restraints. 

STUDIO GANG

Studio Gang, founded by Jeanne Gang in 1997, added the Lavezzorio Community Centre to their impressive portfolio of earlier overseas projects in India and Shanghai to localized developments in Chicago and New York in more recent years (Kolb, 2009). The firm's intention for every project is to find a way to "connect with people socially, experientially, and intellectually" (Studio Gang, Studio, n.d.). Jaffer Kolb, a New York designer and lecturer at Princeton University, reviewed the Community Centre's design and expressed: 

"A reductive description might identify it as a neighbourhood of broken homes, but on my visit it seemed to operate better than any nuclear American paradise of McMansion cul-de-sacs... the centre's greatest success comes from mediating between local gloominess and a more hopeful sense of community" (Kolb, 2009).

The "gloominess" Kolb refers to is the subsequent result of the poverty, violence, and difficult history of Southern Chicago, especially in the Auburn-Gresham neighbourhood. Research has shown that young adults and children suffer largely as a consequence of "the relationship between individual behaviour and residence in poor neighbourhoods" but not much has been done to rectify the situation in Chicago (Rankin, B.H., & Quane, J. M., 2000). Therefore, when the design was proposed, funding parties recognized an SOS Children's Village would help bring together and give the neighbourhood's residents a boost to interact and work towards overcoming poverty. The budget for the project was $3.5 million, excluding the land donated by the city, which "prompt[ed] [Studio Gang] to solicit donations from various suppliers and manufacturers" (Kolb, 2009).  

A MYRIAD OF DONATIONS

Among various donated materials (including, carpet, wood flooring, and ceiling panels), concrete of different densities were also donated from a collection of sources to create the iconic composition of the Lavezzorio Community Centre's façade (Kolb, 2009., and Meinhold, 2011). The bands of concrete emphasize the fluidity of the material and symbolically references the integration of diversity in the Centre's design and purpose to the neighbourhood. The architecture's composition is "open and light, yet also solid and protective" as Studio Gang allows light to penetrate the heavy structure through glazed openings amidst the concrete walls (Kolb, 2009). This contrast of transparency and solidity is a visual representation of the SOS facility's function; to raise fostered children in a welcoming community as well as to reassure them through a multitude of activities and services that they are important and recognized. The following image denotes Studio Gang's process work towards the creation of the stratified walls. Each layer comes from a different source and varies in the amount of sand, Portland cement or "fly ash" to produce an obvious contrast of grey-toned horizontal bands (Meinhold, 2011).  

Additionally, the Centre demands the attention of onlookers with the bright, bold orange interior that glows with an amber hue. Studio Gang's material selection and particular specifications reflect SOS' desire to be known and to stand out as a safe house in a neighbourhood battling poverty, crime, and historical conflict. 

Lavezzorio Community Centre

INTERIOR DESIGN ANALYSIS

Prior to the design process, Tim McCormick (SOS Illinois Director) asked for the neighbourhood's input and they responded: 

"We don't need another set of basketball courts, we want a learning centre and a family education centre where we can strengthen and build families together with the community" (Architecture for Humanity, 2012). 

Hence, the Lavezzorio Community Centre contains crucial office and therapy spaces to help solidify the relationships within family members and draw a torn community together again. 

LEVEL 1 FLOORPLAN

LEVEL 2 FLOORPLAN - Retrieved from Studio Gang.

After entering the glazed lobby, visitors are opposed by 2 staircases, one for proceeding the next floor, the other mimicking stadium seating with green shag carpeting to resemble Astroturf (Kolb, 2009). These steps are larger than standard for use as seating while facing a large television screen mounted on the opposite wall. The atrium's interior wall was painted by a local muralist to reference the iconic stratified wall and further reflect the merging of diverse backgrounds to strengthen the children of the Centre (Kolb, 2009). 

Day care classrooms and recreational areas (ie. stepping stairs) are predominantly arranged within the Ground Floor plan. Kolb references the exposed plenum, floor-to-ceiling glazing, and unpolished concrete, when describing that the Centre's "day care space[s] [have] a post-industrial feel: simple, robust and open" (Kolb, 2009). 

A computer lab and game room is available to youth and young adults atop the stepped seating in the Upper Lobby near the large Community Room to the East of the staircases. Administrative offices and counseling spaces are reserved in the West side of the second floor to provide visitors a more serious and private zone for work and sorting through possibly challenging emotions. The designers implemented "a clinical, neutral quality appropriate for often emotionally charged family encounters" within these zones (Kolb, 2009). The children and young families in need of this facility are facing challenges typically more complex than what the average youth of today faces within the urban environment.

The Lavezzorio Centre provides a safe environment for children who have endured or are escaping from abusive environments, as well as children who have been abandoned and thus, likely have mental and psychological health issues to contend with at a young age. The Centre is designed as a neutral space that invigorates children to play and express themselves by using the stepped seating as a stage, or the colourful classrooms as spaces to unleash their imaginations and grow their minds.

The South Side of Chicago, as previously noted, is riddled with difficult historical events, division, and poverty thus, leading to other concerning factors like, gang activity and substance abuse. The Lavezzorio Centre is also a place to keep youth protected from getting involved in such activities and groups, as well as helping involved individuals escape the hold of gang members and addictive substances.

Offering computers and educational activities (including tutoring) to children, who otherwise may not have access to these tools and services, provides the youth of the neighbourhood more of an ability to progress in their education. Hopefully, this would eventually lead to these children overcoming their individual suffering (ie. mental health, psychological issues, financial constraints, substance abuse) and recognize their full potential as important people to not only their immediate community, but also, the world.

MATERIALITY & DESIGN DETAILS

Translucent polycarbonate panels placed on the ceiling and undersides of the open staircase light the space while providing interesting shadows and lighting effects (Kolb, 2009). Glazing installed in the entrance allows a lot of natural light into the main lobby which can psychologically benefit the individuals entering the facility to ease tension or any reservation about entering the SOS Centre. 

Organic circular shapes are arranged in a couple varieties and forms throughout the space to eliminate rigid appearances and create a physically safer environment for young children. Kolb spoke with the head of the centre and discovered the current stepped seating heights are too large for young children and would like intermediate steps to be installed to resolve this issue (Kolb, 2009). 

The main flooring appears to be polished concrete but changes within the Daycare Classrooms to saturated oranges & yellows and greens with linoleum flooring. The colours introduced in these areas differentiate the spaces while exuding an energy akin to young children. 

The donated wood flooring is reserved in the upper level in the Community Room to create an area adaptable for a variety of functions, from casual play to formal occasions. Ceiling panels (also donated) are implemented in this space for acoustic absorption while integrating fluorescents within the grid to evenly distribute light throughout the space. 

V-shaped structural columns work to support the load of the upper level and can be seen through the window panels of the Community Room. Without disrupting the view of the local neighbourhood's busiest intersection, the anchoring columns provide an aesthetic detail to the exterior and interior by breaking up the consistency of vertical and horizontal lines as shown below. 

COMMUNITY ROOM - Retrieved from Architectural Review. 

CONCLUSION

The success of the Lavezzorio Community Centre signifies that the youthful demographic was in definite need of a care centre despite being located within the urban environment. While the necessities of youth in first and third worlds differ, the parent/guardian(s) of neglected/abused children in southern Chicago have undergone a difficult history of segregation, local gang activity, and substance abuse which has influenced their mental state and behaviour towards others, including their own children. Therefore, the necessity of implementing a "safe house" for youth in the Auburn-Gresham neighbourhood is undeniable. 

Studio Gang, donators, and funding parties actively seized the opportunity to create an establishment to protect these children and delivered a building designed above and beyond the expectations of many. Playful areas, adaptive spaces, counseling and offices held in private zones, alludes to a well-thought facility and space planning specific to its users. "Raw and scavenged materials" were creatively combined and utilized to create an aesthetically functional building that appears "finished yet unpolished" on a relatively low budget (Kolb, 2009). The concept of solidity versus transparency actively allows natural light into public spaces while portraying the symbolic weight of the children's suffering against the vibrancy of their youthfulness. The Lavezzorio Community Centre stands to resemble a concrete jungle gym for the youth of the neighbourhood to enjoy with other children of similar (or different) backgrounds, to build healthy relationships in a safe, reliable environment. 

REFERENCES

Architecture for Humanity. (Organization). (2012). Design Like You Give a Damn [2]: Building Change From the Ground Up. New York: Abrams. 

Home equity?. (2017). U.S. Catholic, 82(4), 32-35.

Kolb, J. (2009). Lavezzorio Community Centre. Architectural Review, 226(1349), 070-073.

Meinhold, B. (2011). Chicago Children’s Center Has a Stratified Façade Made of Donated Concrete. Retrieved from http://inhabitat.com/chicago-children%e2%80%99s-center-hasa-stratified-facade-made-of-donated-concrete/levezzorio-community-center-studio-gangarchitects-10

Rankin, B. H., & Quane, J. M. (2000). Neighborhood Poverty and the Social Isolation of InnerCity African American Families. Social Forces, 79(1), 139-170

SOS Children’s Villages Canada. (n.d.). About SOS Children’s Villages Canada. Retrieved from https://www.soschildrensvillages.ca/about-sos-childrens-villages-canada

SOS Children’s Villages Canada. (n.d.). United States of America. Retrieved from https://www.soschildrensvillages.ca/united-states-america

Statistical Atlas. (2015). Race and Ethnicity in Auburn-Gresham, Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved from https://statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Illinois/Chicago/Auburn-Gresham/Raceand-Ethnicity

Studio Gang. (n.d.). SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Centre. Retrieved from http://studiogang.com/project/sos-children-s-villages-lavezzorio-community-center

Studio Gang. (n.d.). Studio. Retrieved from http://studiogang.com/studio/profile

United States Census Bureau. (2016). Poverty thresholds by Size of Family and Number of Children. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/incomepoverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html