D’arcy’s post Lessons learned: AV systems design in the Taylor Institute highlighted for me some of the things that my organisation needs to do. Although our Welcome House Centre was built in 2012 by renowned architect Henrique and Partners who sought to design a building that would be a socially responsible community development and could have environmental stewardship as the foundation of its good design, issues such as accessibility have been a barrier. Many of the amazing features of this 74,000-square-foot LEED Gold facility which include an AV system, are generally reserved for upper management and IT specialists only. If use is permitted to students, teachers and clients, generally an IT person is needed to oversee its use. I was inspired by the Taylor Institute that students and staff were allowed to access the AV system when needed. I hope that perhaps with our new CEO this can be one thing I can perhaps highlight to him and perhaps spark some change.
I am, however, very proud that our Welcome House features 28 units with 160-200 beds and corporate service offices as well as offering a wide range of programs and services for newcomers to BC, including the largest provider of adult ESL classes; employment and career assistance programs; specialised services for children, youth, and women; community development; social enterprise; and first language settlement support services in over 40 languages and there have been many successes in this new setting.
Although the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISS of BC) has been operating 12 housing units in Vancouver from as far back as 1985, providing the only first-stage temporary housing facility for government-assisted refugees destined for BC, ( every year 800-900 individuals) we have grown immeasurably over the last 50 years and we of course have had growing pains like many big organisation. I am very excited about our potential and possibilities. D’arcy’s post stating that letting go and having instructors doing weird things in the building has been a huge success reinforces this idea of possibilities. (2011)
References
Norman, D. (2017, March 11). Lessons learned: AV systems design in the Taylor Institute. https://darcynorman.net/2017/03/11/lessons-learned-av-systems-design-in-the-taylor-institute/
Hi S.K.,
Thank you for your post. I have seen the Welcome House Centre and now am most curious to go in to take a look around. I had a couple of thoughts after reading your post. I see the accessing IT to use the AV system as a barrier and consider this a missed opportunity for people to use the system before it becomes obsolete if it doesn’t undergo upgrading or replacing. The building is already 10 years old and I wonder if there was a budget set aside for these types of upgrades or replacing. I am in agreement with you about the need to “let go” in order to open up the possibilities and opportunities.
The second point I am curious about is whether or not there is data that is currently being collected which provides evidence of the successes. Right now, I am trying to determine with my team what kinds of data we should be collecting to provide evidence of the success of our program. Not an easy task, as it is difficult to draw direct conclusions that our outreach work impacted the dental decay rates of children in the city. So I am interested to know what types of data do you think could be collected to determine whether or not the program is a success. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks