Bridges built: Future leaders now can train under same roof
By Kate Miller Morton
Originally appeared in the August 1, 2004 edition of Commercial Appeal


When Bridges Inc., a nonprofit youth leadership training organization, interviewed architects for a new $9.5 million facility, the candidates were told it should be designed for kids.

Nearly three years later, local firm buildingstudio has delivered just that in a sleek, irregularly shaped, eye-catching building at Auction and Fifth.

Though the tilting shape and exposed steel trusses suggest otherwise, the building was actually not intended to resemble a bridge.

"We took the approach to design the building as a teaching tool and a lot of the things you see in the building have to do with that," said buildingstudio principal Coleman Coker.

The exposed trusses on the building's exterior, which make the building look as though it's inside out, are there to demonstrate how the building supports itself. The exposed ductwork and clear walls inside are part of the same lesson.

Recyclable building materials provide a lesson on environmentally friendly design. All of the building's hot water and some of its power will be generated by the sun.

A 40-foot climbing wall donated by the Grizzlies will help with team-building exercises, along with a ropes course suspended from the ceiling.

It is the climbing wall that is responsible for the building's odd shape.

Located in the Uptown redevelopment area, Bridges' new building is surrounded by houses and a church on its eastern and northern sides.

buildingstudio didn't want the new building to overwhelm its neighbors.

"While it's a commercial building, we made the scale of the building, particularly toward the neighborhood, low-scale so it was appropriate for those houses," Coker said.

A 40-foot climbing wall couldn't be low-scale, so the architects jacked up the southwestern side of the building, facing St. Jude and the downtown highrises.

The desire to blend into the neighborhood also led the architects to put the building's 130 parking places on the roof.

Coker said the alternative was to build a three- or four-story building with a large asphalt parking lot in the rear.

"It got rid of that large asphalt plane and allowed us to push to the street edges so we have an urban building that hugs the edge of the street on all sides," he said. "Once we did that we were able to get the green space in the center of the building, which will be used for a lot of Bridges activities."

The green space is actually an amphitheater that can hold 2,000 people.

The amphitheater divides the 55,000-square-foot building into two sides.

One side is devoted to education with classrooms, a culinary training kitchen and a large art room.

The other half of the building, where the climbing wall and ropes course is located, is devoted to training.

The new building will be quite a change for the nonprofit, which has operated out of a 3,300-square-foot house on Goodlett.

The house was used for administrative purposes, and nearly all of the group's activities occurred in donated or rented space elsewhere.

"We've never had anywhere for all the kids to get together at one time and meet," said board member Billy Orgel. "That was important, to bring all the kids and all the staff under one umbrella instead of being scattered around the city."

Bridges plans to rent out the building to corporations for training and special events.

Board member Archie Willis III said the revenue will be good for the organization, which faces increased operating costs, but it is not critical.

"It will be important, but not at the level where it will impact our operations negatively if we don't generate certain dollars," he said.

The building was paid for by a $13 million fund-raising drive. The remaining $3.5 million will go toward programming.


- Kate Miller Morton: 529-2351
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