The Emily Krzyzewski Center has created a path to college and a brighter future for many Durham students, especially those who would be the first in their families to attend college through their “Emily K Scholars” program. Since operating in 2006, the Center has embraced thousands of students that emerge college-ready and scholarship-eligible. The need for the expansion arose out of every exisiting space, including corridors, being adopted for tutoring and student use. The goal of the expansion was to not only provide ample classroom, tutoring and meeting spaces, but reflect the students’ identities and asperations and make a welcoming environment for their afterschool learning. Through the use of branded graphics and colors the expansion is a student centered space that inspires through super graphics of peers, a graduate corridor and inspirational quotes, all while maintaining a strong identity of “Emily K”. Custom millwork and benches help define space in the cooridor and under stair, while furniture adjacent to the classrooms help create collaborative spill out zones for the students. These energetic niches harken to the existing building’s culture of using “in between” spaces and help tie the two together. The Emily K Center expansion helped solidify a strong identity, the need for flexible student led spaces and as a continued destination for inspiring students in the same way that Emily inspired her son Coach K to “dream big, work hard, demonstrate character, and change the trajectory of your life and the life of your family.”

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