Project Walk-Through

HomeBase Youth Services: Dustin D. Wolfswinkel Center for Youth

Phoenix, Arizona

Richard Doria | Doria Architecture | Phoenix, Arizona

BY NORA BURBA TRULSSON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BAXTER IMAGING AND MICHAEL WOODALL

The exterior of the building addresses both a nearby residential neighborhood as well as a commercial/industrial area.

HomeBase Youth Services is a nonprofit, local organization in Phoenix dedicated serving the physical, mental, emotional, medical and educational needs of homeless youth ages 18 to 21. Founded in the early 1990s, the organization had been headquartered in an old building near the campus of Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in downtown Phoenix. It didn't take long for the organization to outgrow the old building. Several years ago, Banner gifted the organization an empty lot across the street from the old location, and a successful fundraising campaign brought in money to build a new home for HomeBase.

The organization's building committee commissioned Phoenix architect Richard Doria to design the building, which would house facilities to function as a day center for troubled youth.

"The site was small," recalls Doria, who divides his practice between residential and commercial projects, "and their needs were rather large. The challenge was to get it all onto that lot."

The interior staircase features a series of commissioned paintings by a downtown Phoenix artist.

The 7,500-square-foot lot was bounded by a residential neighborhood of mid-century homes on one side and a busy, industrial/commercial street on another side. The programming for the structure came in at close to 12,000 square feet, Doria says. "The only way to do that was to go up," he says. "We wound up doing a three-story structure, which required variances, but the City of Phoenix was on board with this project and helped to make it happen."

Doria designed the 10,500-square foot building with parking, storage and an entry courtyard on the first level, and the main lobby, check-in, lounge, library, cafeteria, showers and a meditation chapel on the second level, highlighted by a two-story atrium. The third-level floorplan was organized around the atrium, and includes a classroom, computer lab, medical facilities and staff offices.

In elevation, Doria played to two crowds, using a classic residential pediment outline on the building side closest to the old neighborhood, and going for a more industrial, warehouse look toward the busier street, where he featured a series of three tall window bays.

The entry courtyard includes concrete plaques that bear project donor names.

Exterior materials are sandblasted concrete block and colored stucco, including a bright yellow hue that adds spark to the building. The main entry door on the second level is outlined in the HomeBase logo, the blue shape of both baseball's home base and that of a simple house.

Interior materials include bamboo and terrazzo flooring, birch cabinetry and Tectum ceiling panels. The lounge's two-story-high fireplace is clad in glass tile and blue stucco. A metal interior staircase, tucked behind the fireplace surround, links the second and third floors. Plentiful aluminum window and door systems flood the interior with natural daylight.

Doria handled the interior design as well, creating armchairs upholstered in verde green and eggplant fabrics that contrast with the interior's more neutral background hues. He also designed the meditation chapel's pew-style benches and commissioned artwork for the interior, calling upon the talents of a downtown Phoenix artist, Jenny Ignaszewski. "I am really committed to showcasing the work of downtown artists," he says.

The atrium-style lobby and lounge include furniture designed by Richard Doria.

The architect also designed the graphics for the building — no small task, as part of the programming required that all of the building's many donors be acknowledged via signage. He placed some of the acknowledgments in the entry courtyard in the form of wall-mounted concrete plaques and in-ground pavers. A wall in the lobby also elegantly bears the names of numerous donors. In individual rooms, blue HomeBase logo-shaped plaques are etched with donor names. The name of the building itself, displayed over the main entrance, honors the memory of the largest donor's late son.

Security was also an issue in the building, but neither Doria nor the HomeBase clients wanted the facility to seem institutional or prison-like. "We went for the subtle approach," Doria explains. "The open floorplan allows the facility to be tightly controlled. You can see everything at once. When the kids are in certain areas, they can't leave without passing a staff member. Staff offices have corner windows. The showers are designed to accommodate only one user at a time."

Additionally, a two-story window illuminates both the second-level meditation chapel and the third-story classroom. A slot between the floors along the window wall allows adults in the classroom to keep an eye and an ear on the goings-on below.

The serene meditation chapel is a place for contemplation. A slot in the ceiling by the window connects the chapel with the classroom above.

Even the furniture, Doria points out, was designed with a purpose in mind. "At the old facility, the lobby was filled with donated sofas, and the kids tended to come in and sleep during the day. The armchairs we designed for this building are comfortable, but they're not made for lounging. This building is meant to be a 9-to-5 place where kids come to decompress, get help and learn, not sleep. They sleep elsewhere."

Outdoors, Tempe, Arizona landscape architect Bill Tonnesen designed the landscape to be a welcoming desert oasis that straddles both residential and commercial styles. Block and metal walls define spaces and hide views of storage and parking areas, while desert trees, grasses and shrubs provide shade and visual relief.

Recently completed, the facility serves some 30 youths each day in a positive, bright and sunny environment and provides a pleasant workplace for staff members-a far cry from the old cramped building and its donated sofas.

Architecture and interior design: Doria Architects + Constructors, 820 N. 4th St., Phoenix, AZ 85004; (602) 253-6457 or www.doria-architecture.com.

Landscape architecture: Tonnesen, Inc., 105 E. 15th St., Tempe, AZ 85281; (480) 968-7895 or www.billtonnesen.com.

Builder: Redden Construction, Inc., 2201 S. 7th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85007; (602) 271-0595 or www.reddenconstruction.com.

Furniture and furniture fabrication: Southwest Partitions & Office Interiors, 4600 N. 7th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85013; (602) 274-0214 or www.e-zoffice.com.

Art: Jenny Ignaszewski, Iggy Art, Phoenix, AZ; www.iggyart.com.