©All Rights Reserved, Phil Armstrong

Opportunity house

Highland Heights, Kentucky

The prompt from the Brighton Center: transform a vacant, 1970’s style ranch building into a fun, bright, and energizing space that could help inspire the future residents! Did we succeed? We think so! We took the prompt and ran with it. We introduced a lemon-yellow tube that punctures the front building, extends through the middle of it (denoting the main circulation path), and punctures the rear the building. With this simple gesture we were able to create a cantilevered reading room and hang out space that hovers above the ground below and gives the residents a unique view of the patio below. By extending the yellow panels from the exterior into the interior we aim to enhance the connection of the renovated building to its supporting and its collegiate neighbors. The interiors were filled with fun, colorful furniture and a bright, saturated color palette. A variety of furniture types and arrangements were planned to give residents and staff the greatest flexibility in making this space their own. We are proud to continue our long relationship with the Brighton Center and help them realized this extremely important project, that we feel provides a real, tangible opportunity for so many northern Kentucky youth.