Acadiana Outreach Center

Garden Gate

Lafayette, Louisiana

View all Projects:  Acadiana Outreach Center Projects

In the Fall of 2003, the Center’s director, requested the help of the School of Architecture in designing a storage system to aid in organizing donations; however, as a result of several visits to the site–a city block full of sprawled and disconnected structures–the students and faculty observed a terrible contradiction: while the Center’s mission is “Giving People Back Their God-Given Dignity,” the physical environment and facilities were depressing, coarse, and spiritually degrading. After an initial master plan the students immediate began building small installations which eventually led to several large scale projects.

The Meditation gate was designed and fabricated to welcome the public onto the campus. Brick paving with “AOC” serves as a sort of welcome mat for the neighborhood. The project was built in two weeks for approximately $500 in summer 2005.