Hope Community Center

Project Abstract

Abilene Hope Haven (AHH) is a non-profit established in Abilene, Texas in 1992 to address the needs of the homeless community in Taylor County (city of Abilene). Founder Jackie Warmsley, a long-time social worker, recognized the need for a safe facility that could provide homeless adults and families with food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, as well as the tools to become selfsufficient. 4 Through the years of growth, AHH has seen many changes to its facilities. The need to support the homeless population has only grown through the years as the cost of living continues to grow.

The target user of this building is the homeless and refugee population in the city of Abilene, Texas. The International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit organization focusing on worldwide humanitarian aid has a strong presence in Abilene, Texas. 11 The age ranges and types of people are vast because homelessness doesn’t limit its reach and impact on humanity. This includes young adults, families with small children, middle-aged men and women, elderly, mentally challenged, handicapped, able-bodied, healthy, sick, veterans, and more. The socioeconomic status of these users is poor, which is the reason they are in the situation to begin with. There is also a wide range of educational backgrounds found within this user group. 7 Homelessness doesn’t look exactly the same for every person it affects. The community center will also be used by the Abilene Hope Haven employees as an office, people of lower income from the surrounding neighborhood utilizing this space for a warm, dry, public place to gather, and attorneys and various other business persons stopping in for coffee on their way to work, plus many more.

Client Profile

The homeless and refugee population in Abilene is steadily growing and there are centers in place to help train those willing to work in a field they are interested in with an end-goal of getting them back on their feet. There is a need for additional transitional housing spaces while the participants go through the program and work towards a better life.

When staying in a shelter, a homeless person must leave the shelter early in the mornign and cannot return until the eveing to get back in line and hope for a bed the next night. On inclimate weather days, this leaves them in a public setting such as the library or mall to get out of the elements where they are often uncomfortable and feel out of place.

The community center will house the new offices of Abilene Hope Haven and other needs of its occupants, such as a barber shop, lounge space, and a place to relax.

Abilene Hope Haven, Inc. (AHH) is currently operating at or above capacity in their current location, and the organization would like to open another unit along with the addition of the community center space.

A survey done by the West Texas Homeless Network shows a significant increase in the number of homeless people counted versus those counted last year. 2 West Texas Homeless Network says 129 surveys were conducted in Abilene beginning in January 2017. In those surveys, 172 people within the city limits identified as homeless 10 , but the actual number of homeless people in the area is predicted to be significantly higher.

History of the Neighborhood

For years downtown Abilene, Texas has been run-down and somewhat overlooked. With only a handful of stores in the area, downtown Abilene was lacking in appeal. Since 2010, the city has been working hard to change this image and bring new businesses back to downtown. The emphasis has been on the north downtown area, as it was only natural to improve the half of downtown that was more populated. Improving streets, adding pedestrian areas, updating buildings, a park with a fountain, and even large murals on the sides of buildings have all contributed to this stimulation on the north side of downtown. 9

SoDA District buildings receiving a facelift to attract businesses to the area and stimulate growth.

Abilene is divided into north and south by the Texas and Pacific Railroad that runs directly through the center of downtown. The first trains to make it to Abilene arrived in January 1881 and the first station opened up on February 28, 1881. In order to promote settlement in West Texas, the T&P Railway held an auction on March 15, 1881 for the sale of 178 lots in the area. Since that time, Abilene has grown to become “the business, agricultural, transportation, medical, educational, and cultural center for central west Texas.” 3

In recent years, the desire for the area South of Downtown Abilene (SoDA District) to be revitalized has grown and movement has been seen. Businesses are purchasing worn down buildings and restoring them into new spaces, and it is hopeful that the city will catch on with the creation of a master plan for the SoDA District. This side of downtown currently houses a number of businesses and now nicer bars, as well as the police station, the courthouse, and the tallest building in Abilene, the Enterprise building.

Concept for the Design

The concept for the new Abilene Hope Haven community center and housing project is “beauty from ashes.” People and buildings often get worn down over time, some more than others, and are in need of revitalization and a fresh start. Converting an old building that has sat primarily vacant and run-down for 20 years into a useful, desirable, and beautiful space will give the building a new life and a fresh start, much like the revitalization that takes place in the lives of the people who enter through the doors. Keeping true to some of the exposed structural members within the building will maintain the industrial feel, while juxtaposing the old with the new. This will serve as a reminder to all who enter that your past helps to build, not define, who you become.

Existing Building

Carpenter's Building in its current state.

The building is located in the heart of the downtown scene of Abilene, Texas with close proximity to the main bus station. Immediately surrounding the location are a handful of social spaces such as wine and patio bars, a food truck park, and various other attractions.

This site was originally built to house the Independent Order of Oddfellows, whose command is to “visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphan” and more recently “to help make the world a better place to live by aiding each other, the community, the less fortunate, the youth, the elderly, the environment and the community in every way possible.” 5 This is a fitting mission for a building that will soon house the new location for Abilene Hope Haven, serving those less fortunate and helping them to get back on their feet. The building, built in 1921, wasn’t completely inhabited by the Independent Order of Oddfellows. A grocery store took up most of the first floor for many years, while the top floors housed offices. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters also had office space in the building, leading to the inscription on the building’s facade in 1941. 6

This building is approximately 40,000 square feet and is brick and timber construction with three stories, a southfacing main entrance, and a patio bar directly adjacent tothe north. South downtown Abilene is a once forgotten part of the city that has been making a come-back in the last 10 years with the increasing urban-style housing locations and increasing social night scene.

Local artists have been creating murals on buildings around the city.

The building’s third floor is currently unoccupied, while the first and portions of the second floor are being utilized by a Hispanic night club. The updates to the building have been somewhat minimal and have been done on a case-by-case basis, meeting specific small needs with each update. There is an elevator in the northwest corner of the building that is in need of repair but can be fixed. The overall building has not been thoroughly updated in many years, however the structure is sound. This opens many doors to help preserve some of the history of the building within the new design.

Currently in the city of Abilene there is no building that functions like the proposed project. With homeless populations increasing and nowhere for them to go, more and more of these people are finding themselves sleeping in the public library or under bridges during the daytime. Those seeking a spot in a homeless shelter have to be out very early in the morning and cannot return to wait in line for the following night until late in the afternoon. On days when the weather is nice this may not be a problem, but on inclimate weather days this leaves people on the streets or feeling out of place and uncomfortable in public spaces, just trying to keep warm or dry. Because they don't have anywhere else to go on these days, the homeless in Abilene feel even more separated from society as an outcast that doesn’t fit in.

Providing a space with multiple lounge areas, places for entry-level employment, pro-bono legal and counseling services, locker rooms, laundry facitlites, mail services, computer labs, training classes and overall community spaces will go a long way to help these people maintain their dignity and feel like they have a place where they belong. They are free to wash their belongings and themselves while taking care of any of the needs they have that would help to propel them back into society.

The cafe in the building will offer a place for some of the occupants to work as well as provide a simple way to bring the working and professional population into the space. This exposure to the working and professional world helps to reintroduce the homeless back into society on their terms through conversation and interaction. This also helps to lower the stigma often associated with being homeless or in a transitional stage of life.