trip to Charlotte's EpiCentre to help the youngsters at The Boulevard
Home Salvation Army's Boys and Girls Club to explore the mysteries of
architecture. Architects from the firm, which designed the EpiCentre,
have been meeting with the kids to discuss what an architect does, who
makes up a design team and how buildings are designed. Then they took
the children on a VIP tour of the EpiCentre and the underground
parking explaining how it was built. The tour was followed by bowling
and pizza sponsored by Strike City.
"The children were very curious about the details of the EpiCentre
architecture and their questions were fascinating," says Kristen
LeCrone, director of marketing for DMR Architecture. "They wanted to
know how many windows there are and how much concrete it took to build
the structure. They were interested in everything about it."
DMR Architecture got involved with the Boys and Girls Club as a result
of their community outreach program "Doughnut Fridays." DMR partners
with The Salvation Army to deliver doughnuts one Friday each month to
one of their communities. One of those Friday deliveries was to the
Boulevard Home Boys and Girls Club. DMR team members quickly realized
they wanted to bring more to the kids than doughnuts and began working
with them to spark their interest in architecture.
"It would be wonderful if this experience inspired the children to
stay in school and pursue professions such as architecture," says Eric
deNeve, managing partner for DMR Architecture.
Continuing their work with the Boulevard Home Club, DMR is going to
stage a design competition for the children. They will work in teams
to design and prepare a final presentation of a predetermined building
type.
About The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte
Serving Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Union Counties since 1904, The
Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte is prepared to meet the needs of
the community with 15 centers of service and five Thrift Stores with
services ranging from emergency assistance, sheltering, eight Boys &
Girls Clubs, adult rehabilitation and disaster relief.
About DMR Architecture
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., DMR Architecture is a firm
comprised of creative and LEED accredited professionals with extensive
experience in a wide range of projects including corporate facilities,
assisted living, mixed-use developments, retail centers and
renovations of all kinds and uses. For more information, visit www.dmra.biz
or call 704-372-0116.
