从历史上看，谋求社会公义的集会，包括许多对这个国家来说最重要的人权集会往往发生在最非正式的场合，例如在教堂的地下室，某个起居室，或者甚至只是围着厨房的圆桌。想要设计一栋能够促进公开讨论并且向所有人开放的建筑，从各个方面来说都是一个前所未有的挑战。社会公义领导会议的Arcus Center旨在让社会公义话题得到正视并从地下室进入公共意识。

　　为了促进积极的社会变革，Arcus中心致力于发展和联合在人权和社会公义领域新出现或者已存在的领导分子。作为一个研究中心和会议空间，建筑让学生，教师，访问学者，社会公义领导者以及市民能够聚集到一起，为创造一个更公正的世界参与交流和活动。

　　Form the architect : Studio Gang–Designed Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Enables Positive Social Transformation at Every Scale.Historically, convening for social justice has taken place in the most informal settings, with many of this nation’s most important civil rights gatherings, for example, taking place in a church basement, a living room, or even around a kitchen table. The challenge of designing a building from the ground up that fosters discussion and renders this work visible and welcome to all is in many ways unprecedented. The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership aims to bring social justice topics up from the basement and squarely into public consciousness.

　　With its mission to catalyze positive social change, the Arcus Center works to develop emerging leaders and engage existing leaders in the fields of human rights and social justice. As a study center and meeting space, the building brings together students, faculty, visiting scholars, social justice leaders, and members of the public for conversation and activities aimed at creating a more just world.

　　Arcus中心的建筑从几个重要的方面来支持这项工作。在建筑内部，开放的视觉以及日光充足的室内旨在鼓励一种能够打破人与人之间心理上和文化上的隔阂，并且能够促进互相理解的集会。该建筑里的客厅，壁炉以及分享食物的厨房为频繁的非正式会议以及无意的偶遇提供了可能性。

　　建筑师在空间上的的许多设计决定都反映了社会公义——例如在选址，可达性和性别识别的问题上。公平实践被直接整合到设计之中，这使该中心能够在每个尺度上促进积极的社会变革。建筑设计同样敏锐地反映了其周围独特的现实环境文脉：一个居民区，大学校园，以及一个天然的树林。它的三轴设计平面表达并且联合了三种语境，内凹的户型墙面不但连接起巨大的透明立面，并且容纳了内部空间。

　　The Center’s architecture supports this work in several important ways. Inside, the building’s visually open and day-lit interior is designed to encourage “convening” in configurations that begin to break down psychological and cultural barriers between people and help facilitate understanding. The presence of a living room, hearth, and kitchen for sharing food at the center of the building creates the potential for frequent informal meetings and casual or chance encounters.

　　Many decisions that architects must make about space—addressing, for instance, issues of accessibility or gender identification—have social justice repercussions. The integration of equitable practices directly into its design enables the Center to instigate positive social transformation at every scale. The building is likewise designed to respond sensitively to its distinct yet adjacent physical contexts: a residential neighborhood,the college campus, and a native woodland grove. Its tri-axial plan addresses and unites all three contexts with large transparent facades connected by concavely inflected arcing walls that embrace the interior space.

　　该中心的木质砌体外墙，是一种当地被遗忘了的技术在21世纪的重新使用。木材把炭封存起来并用一种低科技的方式来达到一个高性能的建筑立面。堆积起来的木材还象征着相邻的树林景观。这种独特的外观是对校园现有建筑格鲁吉亚风格和砖块语境的一种挑战，又同时纪念了堆砌工艺以及建造了校园早期建筑的人们。

　　通过这样一个宗旨——在一个社会公正的世界里每个人的生命都有价值，所有生命的内在的尊严都被承认——Arcus中心表明了集会空间能够并且应该成为我们最有力量的空间。

　　For the Center’s wood masonry exterior, a local but forgotten building technique was revived and brought into the 21st century. The wood sequesters carbon and provides a low-tech approach to achieving a high-performance building facade. The stacked wood material also works as a figurative extension of the trees in the adjacent grove landscape. This unique exterior challenges the Georgian brick language and plantation-style architecture of the campus’s existing buildings, while simultaneously honoring the masonry craft and those who constructed the college’s earlier structures.

　　Informed by the tenet that in a socially just world each person’s life is valued and their inherent dignity is recognized, the Arcus Center demonstrates that spaces for convening can and should be some of our most powerful.

　　地点：美国密歇根州Kalamazoo
　　建筑师：Gang工作室
　　业主：Kalamazoo大学
　　面积：10000平方尺
　　绿色建筑评分：黄金等级(预计)
　　状态：2014年9月19日开幕
　　LOCATION
　　Kalamazoo / Michigan / USA
　　ARCHITECT : Studio Gang Architects
　　OWNER : Kalamazoo College
　　SIZE : 10,000 sf
　　LEED RATING : Targeted Gold
　　STATUS : Opened September 19, 2014
　　本文转载：http://studiogang.net/
　　via: gooood