December 6, 2016 by CallisonRTKL

Home is Where the Heart Is

CRTKL donated time and creativity to support Dallas’ homeless population. Associate Jeffery Clark discusses his experience.

In Dallas, there are over 3,000 homeless people and at least 24% of them are children.

Now, let that sink in. And remember, that number covers just Dallas alone.

Homelessness is an issue that affects every city in the country. Most of us can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like for these children and their parents. But there are people out there who want to help. For 27 years, Vogel Alcove has provided free child development services for the youngest victims of poverty in Dallas. These children range in age from six weeks to five years old. Vogel Alcove’s mission is “to provide the youngest children of homeless families with the foundation for success.”

Vogel Alcove is Dallas’ only facility that provides free childcare and case management for children and their families. They operate out of a renovated high school in downtown Dallas, and the organization is structured as a learning environment that provides a safe oasis for these children during the daytime. Their goal is to intervene in the chaos of their daily lives and provide a sense of normalcy.

As a non-profit organization, Vogel Alcove relies on outside support to continue operating. One of their programs, Furniture 4 Kids, supports the organization by engaging the architecture and design community for their annual party and silent auction. The heart of this event is the “Let Your Inner Designer Out of the Box” competition. Teams are given identical wood toy boxes that they then modify to become something amazing that fits inside a 4’ cube. The box must remain operational, but other than that, there are no rules.

The Dallas office of CallisonRTKL answered this challenge by designing around a food theme. What began as an idea to create a mobile ice cream stand evolved to become a fully realized mini café that allows children to use their imagination to make it almost anything they want. The box was fitted with a front counter, overhead sign, an additional side bar with menu board and two stools. We primarily used re-claimed structural lumber and an old pallet, giving it a rustic, yet modern appearance. Other special details included chalkboard sign and menu board, battery operated accent lighting and a mini cook set from Ikea. Our final staging included all accessories needed for young restauranteurs to open their very own chic bistro, burger joint or lemonade stand.

Our team was led by Ali Foltz and Jeff Clark and included Carlie McClure, Randi Lawrence, Amanda Floyd, Aimee Grimes, Elizabeth Canzoneri, Thy Nguyen, Hong Wang, Bernardo Esparza, Eileen Geyer, Alli Giacometto and Matt Spaniol.

It was so wonderful to work with such an amazing team. We had a blast donating our creativity and personal time to make this happen. It felt so great to give back to a community that we love so much, and our hard work paid off; we were awarded the Best of Furniture for Kids prize—the top prize of the competition, given in recognition of design excellence. Most importantly, though, we also helped raise over $150,000 to support Vogel Alcove. We look forward to bringing even more great ideas and support to the table next year!

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CallisonRTKL

For more than five decades, Callison and RTKL have created some of the world’s most memorable and successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions and public entities. In 2015, our two practices came together under the Arcadis umbrella, expanding our sphere of influence and the depth and breadth of our resources. Our team is comprised of nearly 2,000 creative, innovative professionals throughout the world who are committed to advancing our client’s businesses and enhancing quality of life.