Christian Brothers University at Crosstown

  • Architecture
    Interior Design

  • Adaptive Reuse
    Low Maintenance Materials

  • Completed September 2017

  • Memphis, Tennessee

A collaborative learning outpost for a local university, the project prioritizes flexibility to support a variety of student and faculty programmatic needs.

Christian Brothers University at Crosstown is a founding tenant in the transformed, one million square foot “urban village” of Crosstown Concourse which had sat empty for over 20 years. Their new satellite location supports CBU and the community alike with spaces that are easily and quickly reconfigurable.

  • Students and staff required the flexibility or reorganizing of their arrangement over the course of a single event to facilitate project and team-based work. The relationship between two elements, a ‘ribbon’ and a ‘box,’ organize the design. The ribbon winds around the perimeter of the space and moves from floor to ceiling to support gathering and building system functions. At some locations, the ribbon holds pipes and ducts, and in other areas, it translates into a bench for gathering and lounging. The box contains shared support functions such as storage, offices, and break room, while also helping to divide event spaces. A range of functional surfaces that are writeable, projectable, and tack-able clad the space, facilitating collaboration. The palette of neutral grays, whites, blacks, and natural wood provides consistency, while the furniture is continually rearranged, contrasted by the energetic yellow cladding of the ‘box.’

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Christian Brothers University - Cultural Vision Plan

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