The Boys and Girls Club of Milwaukee/ Milwaukee, WI

 “The Experience” is an iconic urban center in the CIty on block 7 of the Bucks Development for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee. The program called for dynamic ideas to design this space to activate our youth and their talents, pushing their creativity in our global, digital world in a unique and inspiring manner.  The vision, aside from its functionality, is to generate a place where high priority is placed on a creative, dynamic and highly-visible space to build this organization and its brand from within.

To harness the creativity of young adults, we needed to understand their digital challenges and opportunities. In order to successfully activate “The Experience”, a thoughtful design emerged from critical space programming. Our team harnessed the digital aptitude and attitude of youth to imagine a space where their collective synergies can flourish.

The arenas where these activities take place are within open collaborative spaces. To foster shared collaboration, spaces need to be open and flexible. They should accommodate a large number of youths in one room to gather, chat, work and hear mentors’ input to their work efforts. These spaces need to be flexible and comfortable, with some desk-type seating and use of standing mode technology. Needless to say, the space has to have multi-device connectivity. Young adults can gather with their laptops and mentors, huddle and exchange ideas. Toggling between large, wall-size screens and smaller device displays is useful in active environments for large- and small-group viewing and discussions.