Title: Moving in the Spirit
Location of Proejct: Atlanta, Georgia
Project Completion Date: 03/2020
Firm Name: Perkins&Will

Short Description: Moving in the Spirit is the new home of a non-profit creative youth development organization by the same name, which uses the art of dance to teach young students the skills they need to grow. The 21,000 gross square foot state-of-the-art classroom and performance facility will serve over 500 students and Atlanta community members yearly. The facility is an anchor arts tenant in a new transit-oriented development and will serve neighbors through access to arts education in well-equipped dance studios and a black-box theater.

Architect's Statement: The architect engaged users of all ages throughout the design process, beginning with visual listening workshops in the pre-design phase with students and teachers. Later engagement sessions included donors, neighborhood residents, the master developer, and transit system representatives to include feedback from all community constituents in the design process. Poetic ideas about movement and space were an early source of inspiration, context of the overall neighborhood development was highly important, and the result of several organization meetings was a strong desire to welcome the community at large while locating the dance classrooms on the upper level for student safety. Interior design was driven by a need to involve the main user group- children- while also providing a sophisticated palette. Student cohorts informed the design of the large windows in the dance studios to welcome an abundance of natural light and a pop of color. The architect provided approximately 60% of design services on a pro-bono basis via a Social Purpose Initiative.

The project is part of a broader transit-oriented development that transformed a parking lot into a neighborhood scale mixed-use community including residential, retail, office, a rail station, and a new park. The configuration of the surrounding public spaces suggested the hierarchy of front and rear facades, while also reinforcing contextual circulation patterns for overall development flow. Transit passengers may exit their transportation directly into the corner of the project site, providing easy access for families from many areas of Atlanta. A circular drive encapsulates the development green space, but also provides access to front door drop-off service at Moving in the Spirit. A parking deck in the newest phase of the neighborhood will provide ease of vehicular and visitor access for performance events.

The building consists of three main volumes which have a uniform footprint, consistent with mid-size performance stages, thus allowing flexibility of activities. While the main theater on the ground floor is windowless for black-box performances, the two upper floor dance classrooms express themselves on the exterior of the building with protruding volumes. Large windows in each space offer daylight and views, an expressed desire of the dance students. This includes views into the space where the corner studio lights up like a jewel box evening, putting the arts on display for the community. The main lobby space is continuous from east to west to connect across the full development from each apartment complex and the campus green and serves as pre-function area for large events.

Metro Atlanta’s Arts community has been historically under-resourced. One of the client’s aims was to create a performing arts venue that could support partner artists and community groups. Out of this emerged the need to separate shared spaces from proprietary spaces.

The project is part of a broader transit-oriented development that transformed a surface parking lot into a neighborhood scale mixed-use community including residential, retail, office, a rail station, and a new park. The configuration of the surrounding public spaces suggested the hierarchy of front and rear facades. The building also reinforces contextual circulation patterns.