Street Bean Espresso and Shelter

The teen shelter along with the Street Bean Espresso, located in Seattle, was an eye-opening site that broadened my horizons as a designer. The shelter across from the espresso shop is a comfortable place where teens that live on the street can come and hangout. These teens who live on the streets are kids from ages as young as thirteen years old to twenty-two years old that feel as if the streets are safer than their home. The space currently accommodates teens from 10am to 12pm and 7pm to 9:30pm and allows teenagers to do laundry, shower, use the restroom, eat, and hangout in a friendly environment. Currently the area is a little disorganized and not as welcoming as they desire it to be. After speaking with the woman who is in charge of the shelter, some ideas in order to improve the space were surfaced. An important idea that came across my mind was to change the front of the building to a more welcoming entrance, although the presence of an obvious sign announcing it is a teen shelter may not be ideal, a friendlier and more comforting entrance would encourage teenagers to come more often. Another idea that was brought up by the administrator was the idea of five floors of apartments upstairs in which would be affordable for the kids who have no other place to live. Since the objective of this shelter is to train them and provide them with valuable skills in order to earn money and move on with their life, the space should incorporate a much similar environment as to the espresso street across the street. By allowing teenagers to work at the espresso shop to learn those skills that can be used in the work force, that same idea can be used throughout the shelter to provide them with the knowledge that there are other ways of living which will motivate teenagers to get off the streets and start their life in the right direction. I valued this site visit more than I expected because it showed other areas in which design is incorporated and that there are many different environments in which it is needed.