Acadiana Outreach Center

Performance Space

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.

To culminate the summer of work, students and faculty, in collaboration with residents of the halfway houses, local contractors and inmates from the local jail, designed and built a performance space for concerts and community events. Most importantly, the performance space provides a place to celebrate the center’s life-changing programs. The project was completed in five weeks for $10,000 in summer 2005.