Case Study: Boor Bridges Architecture & the San Francisco School Volunteers

With six weeks to relocate its headquarters, San Francisco School Volunteers contacted Public Architecture for help. As one of the first firms to join The 1% pro bono design program of Public Architecture, Boor Bridges Architecture accepted the project immediately. The strong match between the firm and nonprofit’s missions, and a dynamic first interaction between architect Bonnie Bridges and executive director Lisa Spinali forecast the project’s great success. In 6 weeks, four classrooms and a hallway were transformed into a conference room with a fully functioning kitchen, an open workspace for a staff of 16, a training room for volunteers, private space for confidential conversations, and a café where the volunteers and staff gather informally. The pro bono services provided by Boor Bridges Architecture dramatically improved the work environment for the volunteers and staff of San Francisco School Volunteers as well as increased the organization’s capacity to support the San Francisco Unified School District.

Design

Architect Bonnie Bridges recalls her first conversation with executive director Lisa Spinali, who called her frantically after the referral from Public Architecture. Spinali described San Francisco School Volunteers and the organization’s urgent need for design assistance. Boor Bridges Architecture, which has completed several education-related projects, was immediately interested in taking on the project pro bono. “Well, great; we need you at the site by 3pm this afternoon,” Spinali responded. When Bridges arrived at the site, demolition of interior walls was already in progress, despite the lack of a clear space plan for the office.

Beside the short timeframe before the school year began, by which time the project needed to be completed, challenges included a very small budget and a complex existing layout. The new office space allocated to the San Francisco School Volunteers was a 1920’s Beaux-Arts building in which the organization was offered what were once four large classrooms. The four classrooms were organized in a classical plan with classrooms sited in each corner, divided by two hallways in a cross formation. As the building had historic significance, the possibilities for architectural intervention were limited, and were not allowed to impact the structure of the building or the main hallway. Bridges saw the main design challenge as how to “take an organization that is a single entity and make it feel like it all wants to be in one space, when, in fact, the strength of the plan doesn’t want you to go there.”

The first afternoon on the job, Bridges sat down with Spinali to discuss the organization’s working processes and program needs. Due to Bridges’ previous experience designing corporate office space, it only took about half an hour to establish a rough sense of the desired spatial relationships and adjacency diagrams. Bridges’ needs assessment for the organization was also aided by her experience in pre-K to 12 educational projects.

Two of the classrooms were joined together to form a common work area, allowing the majority of the office staff to work in one space. The remaining two classrooms were used as an executive suite, a kitchen and conference area, and a volunteer training room.

In the center remained one, double-loaded 12-foot wide corridor in which Bridges suggested the organization put a café as casual space for staff and volunteers to meet and intermix. “We actually brought that idea to the table, because people that work at San Francisco School Volunteers are as dedicated as they come. They’re passionate about what they do and it’s a essential to an organization like this to have people have casual spaces for interaction.”

Bridges credits “excellent collaboration” as the method by which she and the Spinali resolved challenges, without sacrificing high-quality design.

Impact/Analysis

Despite its short design and construction timeline, San Francisco School Volunteers now has a modern office—one that balances both open and collaborative as well as private and protected spaces. In this new space, the staff “has a chance to connect with one another, share ideas and work as a team,” says Spinali. The new office has “increased the communication as well as improved team morale.”

The new facilities for volunteer training establish a separate zone for crucial training experiences. Spinali credits these facilities with leaving volunteers with “such a positive first impression; we are able to do a much better job training our volunteers as a result of this wonderful new space.”

The move and remodel also gave San Francisco School Volunteers a facility that has changed the organization’s role in its larger context. As a nonprofit that relies on the generosity of philanthropists, San Francisco School Volunteers is also now able to confidently bring donors to their office, and give them a taste of the organization’s dynamic activities. Additionally, their offices, now used as a convening space for several large collaborative efforts, give them “a greater presence in the community,” a role they could not have played in the past. Spinali says the new office “has significantly elevated our role in the field of organizations supporting San Francisco public education and volunteerism.”

One challenge that remains is the difficulty of procuring furniture appropriate for their office. Like many nonprofits, their current furniture is a “hodgepodge” of castaways and donations that preclude the most efficient layout of workstations. As the organization grows in staff, Bridges and Spinali will continue working together, raising money for new office furniture systems that will better accommodate the office.

About Boor Bridges Architecture

For more than 15 years, Bonnie Bridges and Seth Boor have designed a diverse range of public and private buildings, houses, interiors, and gardens. As one of the first firms to join The 1% program of Public Architecture, Boor Bridges Architecture donates $5,000-$10,000 per year in pro bono services to organizations and institutions in the education sector. Experienced in academic facilities, with previous projects including work for Live Oak School in San Francisco, CA, and Oakwood Country School in Morgan Hill, CA, Boor Bridges Architecture’s design philosophy is based on daylight-driven spatiality, elegant and minimal materials, and energy-efficient, technical sophistication.

“Ultimately, it’s about the people and the passion and what they do, and so the little bit of reorganization that we did for them made a huge difference.”

Visit www.boorbridges.com to learn more about Boor Bridges Architecture.

About San Francisco School Volunteers

San Francisco School Volunteers is the largest source of volunteers for San Francisco public schools. Established in 1963, the organization’s singular focus on serving public schools has made it an integral part of the city’s education system.

San Francisco School Volunteers answer teachers’ requests for help, training and placing hundreds of concerned citizens in classrooms annually. Each year, feedback and survey evaluations from teachers show that 98% report their teaching is enhanced as a result of their volunteers.