Building Design

Examples of stumbling blocks:

• The building design made sense to the architect, board and executive director, but no one had asked the organization's audience or the surrounding community for input. In one case, this led to the lack of a women’s room on a convenient floor. In another, only the administrative offices faced the street; in the evenings, when 500 children practiced singing in the back of the building, the place looked deserted.

• The design says something unintentional about the organization. In one case, the door wasn’t visible. Although this design was originally chosen because the facility was in an unsafe neighborhood, it later became a liability.