The TAF Community Learning Space will be home to a Seattle-area nonprofit organization called the Technology Access Foundation (TAF). Established in 1996, TAF responds to the lack of quality education and access to technology for minority and disadvantaged youth in the Seattle area (King County). Through its programs, TAF provides technical and computer skills training to this population, instilling them with the critical thinking and technology skills that they will need to thrive in today's world. With this new center, TAF will be able to expand its programs and its reach.
The building also addresses another problem, prevalent in many communities, the lack of access to adequate community resources. Through a unique public-private partnership between King County and TAF, the facility will not only serve as the headquarters for TAF but a public community center. The local--and currently underserved--White Center community will have access to a technologically-advanced facility, unlike any other in the county.
This interest in creating such a resource also stemmed from TAF’s desire to foster sustainable communities. Thus, combined with the strong social agenda, this project provided an opportunity to explore the notion of a holistic sustainability. Within this project, how could a social vision shape environmental awareness and vice versa?
Prototype
Along our ScrapHouse design campaign and the Design for Reuse Primer, the TAF Community Learning Space is part of Public Architecture’s Material Reuse Design Initiative. Public Architecture was recruited by King County, who had seen ScrapHouse, to work on the project. We assisted TAF with identifying and selecting The Miller|Hull Partnership as the project architect. Consistent with its 1% pledge, Miller|Hull donated a percentage of its time throughout the pre-design phase of the project.
Inspired in part by ScrapHouse, Public Architecture is exploring with Miller|Hull the ways in which material reuse can be woven into the building. Utilized in multiple capacities, from walls to flooring to furniture, the salvaged materials in this project are a means of both environmental and community sustainability. These materials -- as well as other "green" aspects of the building -- will be incorporated into TAF's science education programs, allowing the building itself to be used as a teaching tool. Through actively sourcing materials from locally demolished buildings, the physical fabric of the community will be incorporated into the building. Closer to the completion of the building, workshops will be held, bringing together community members and local artists to create installations for the building out of community-donated materials.
The capital campaign is underway and construction is slated to begin in 2010.
Advocacy
Public Architecture is working with King County to coordinate various outreach efforts, bringing a greater community involvement into the process of building the facility. In addition to these efforts locally, we are documenting the overall salvage material procurement and integration process. To that end, Public Architecture has formed a partnership with the Brad Guy (a leading deconstruction and material reuse expert), StopWate.org, the San Francisco Department of the Environment, the California Integrated Waste Management Board, and the US Environmental Protection Agency to produce the Design for Reuse Primer. Funded by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), the primer will focus on case study projects involving material reuse and offer tools as to how to further integrate material reuse into standard building process. To learn more about the Design for Reuse Primer, listen to a USGBC Podcast with Public Architecture's Liz Ogbu.
In the end, we hope that what we began with ScrapHouse - a simple demonstration project - can lead to a far reaching movement within the sustainable design industry.
TAF Community Learning Space was undertaken as a fee for service project by Public Architecture.
