A3C is excited to announce that we have been selected as a winner of the AIA of Huron Valley Honor Awards. This marks our fourth win over the last 4 years. We are humbled by this award, as the true winner is Ozone House and the facility they dreamed about for 10 years!

For the 2021 American Institute of Architects Huron Valley Chapter Honor Awards, A3C – Collaborative Architecture was awarded for the Community Benefit Award. Check out this YouTube Video highlighting many aspects of the project. Below is a special note from Jan to the Team:

A sincere thanks to each of you for being such an important part of making this happen!

The FIRST award for community benefit—including sustainability, diversity, inclusion

The TEAM makes it happen….

This project is EXACTLY why I became an architect…

In gratitude,

Jan

The Project: Every night, hundreds of youth throughout the greater Ann Arbor community flee abuse, violence, and families that are shattered by parental substance abuse or mental illness. These youth are traumatized and they are alone. They don’t have clothes, money or food. They don’t have hope for their future. For over 50 years, thousands of young people have come through Ozone House’s front door to find a safe place to overcome trauma and build promising futures. The FRONT DOOR is now open wider.

Our relationship with Ozone House began in 2010, with an assessment of their facilities and assistance with developing a program for current and future needs. Working with staff and their board, it became clear that a new facility was the best way forward. We developed a checklist of criteria to guide a property search and set a preliminary project budget. With these tools in hand, the board launched a capital campaign. The property search led us to a 5+ acre riverfront parcel, owned by the City of Ypsilanti. It came with a sewage lift station, storm drain, wooded steep slopes, an abandoned well, electrical easement and wetland. The price was perfect and following the deer trails through poison ivy and brambles revealed the site had great potential and challenges.

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For more information, contact Monica Capilla at [email protected] or 734.663.1910