Stitched on Tenth: A Diversity Center

Stitched on Tenth is a diversity center located at the heart of an intersection between Monroe and Tenth street in Atlanta. Housed here are three non-profit organizations; TRANScending Barriers ATL, World Relief, and BeLoved ATL who provide resources to those without any. Traditionally these organizations have been underfunded with no consistent location, but Stitched on Tenth provides these organizations with an opportunity to have their identities be expressed architecturally. Through pedestrian access, material expression and programmatic intersections, the project stitches communities together not just through public interaction as a whole but also internally across all three organizations.

Design Challenge

Architecture is, at its root, societal. And when addressing the needs of non-profit organizations, its responsiveness to society and community becomes paramount. There are many non-profits in Atlanta that float around, never having a permanent location or space to call their own. Through architectural design, this project seeks to create an architectural identity for three distinct organizations that support and address important social issues in Atlanta by giving them, each and collectively, physical presence in the built environment through materials, color and places of interaction. Through design, these organizations now have a new sense of community between one another and with the public they serve.

Physical Context

The site is located at 985 Monroe Dr. in Atlanta, the location of this site is heavily congested and lively, with a constant flow of people and cars interacting all around. The Beltline is nested behind the site and also marks the end of tenth street which typically serves as the ending for iconic Atlanta events like Pride Parade and the Lantern Festival making this an important moment of the site -- yet it is underutilized with just a dumpster sitting there to mark the space. In order to maintain the existing site circulation, the network of interactions and access within the site was studied. These patterns of use informed a central pedestrian axis across the site that became a social space of interaction for the building's design. The project is designed to foster civic engagement on-site while respecting and integrating a network of interactions internally and to the public. It provides a landmark and public space for the finale of civic events while also giving itself to the community.