Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership by Studio Gang | Church architecture / community centres

Photographer: Iwan Baan

Photographer: Steve Hall / Hedrich Blessing

Historically, convening for social justice has taken place in informal settings - a church basement, a living room, or even around a kitchen table. The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership brings these discussions up from the basement and squarely into public consciousness. The Arcus Center works to develop and sustain leaders in the fields of human rights and social justice. As a learning environment and meeting space, it brings together students, faculty, visiting scholars, social justice leaders, and members of the public for conversation and activities aimed at creating a more just world.

“Social justice recognizes the inherent dignity of all people and values every life equally. It calls for both personal reflection and social change to ensure that each of us has the right and the opportunity to thrive in our communities, regardless of our identities. When we acknowledge that oppression exists and work together to end systemic discrimination and structural inequities, we increase the promise of a more just world.”
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership

Supporting this important work, the center’s design is visually open and activated by daylight. The plan encourages convening in configurations that begin to break down psychological and cultural barriers between people and help facilitate understanding. The presence of a living room, hearth, and kitchen for sharing food at the center of the building creates the potential for frequent informal meetings and casual, chance encounters.

The building’s tri-axial organization addresses three adjacent contexts (campus, grove, neighborhood) with transparent façades. The wood masonry utilized for the building’s exterior is a low-tech and relatively inexpensive method of building assembly used to achieve a high-performance facade. The wood walls sequester more carbon than was released in building them, responding to today’s need to reduce carbon pollution - one of many environmental issues embraced by social justice movements.

Studio Gang

Structural engineering: Thornton Tomasetti
Landscape architect/civil engineering: Viridis Design Group
MEP/FP: Diekema Hamann
Cost estimator: Davis Langdon (AECOM)

Photographer: Steve Hall / Hedrich Blessing