Celebrating Pride Through the Lens of a Community Resource
Much can – and should – be said about the power and validation that comes with having a month dedicated to elevating and celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community. As we near the end of June, filled with parades, events, and themes to broadcast Pride, I am reminded of what it took to get us to this present. Many individuals and groups fought, organized, and led the way for us to be able to openly live our lives as our true selves – to exist and thrive without fear of shame or social stigma.
One such group is Prism Health North Texas. Serving the North Texas community since 1986, the organization is focused on building equitable healthcare for all Texans and its mission is to advance the health of our community through education, research, prevention, and personalized integrated HIV care. In the last three years, it has opened five new health centers and provided comprehensive primary, dental, pharmacy, and behavioral healthcare to over 20,000 patients throughout North Texas. We have proudly partnered with PHNTX to create optimal health care environments that are also comforting and engaging spaces for patients and staff.
Following the opening of a patient-facing clinic earlier this year, PHNTX recently moved administrative and executive teams to the first-generation space in a major medical district in Dallas.
We worked closely with PHNTX to produce an environment that feels organic to the organization and serves as a place of solace for visitors. It was important that its workspaces offer a balance of transparency and visual connection along with privacy and comfortable collaboration enclaves. Another important piece of the project was to elevate and enrich the spaces through the integration of custom graphics and curated artwork. From the moment patients and visitors enter the new buildings, they are met with immersive graphic elements, including artwork and quotes, from artists associated with the AIDS epidemic. DLR Group’s experiential graphics team designed creative installation pieces with ties to the history and ongoing mission of PHNTX.
Rendered in Spanish to reflect Latinx voices, Silencio = Muerte, is broadcast in neon behind a hazy panel to remind all of those affected by the AIDS epidemic. An undulating lenticular wall display reads “We need to all understand that whatever we do, we’re all human beings first” when viewed from one direction – and disappears into a vibrant, colorful graphic derived from a Keith Haring painting when viewed from the other. A lobby wall is filled with amorphous acrylic panels with gradients derived from LGBTQIA+ identity pride flags, its shapes suggesting gently rippling fabrics and connoting the ever-changing understanding and acceptance around sexuality and gender identity. And a simple corridor is transformed with a forty-foot installation of vertical mirrored bands of varying heights to convey HIV/AIDS statistics from the past to the present. Reflective surfaces create a dynamic effect that engages visitors.
Our role as workplace designers is to create environments that celebrate people at work and inspire lifestyles of limitless thinking, growth, and wellbeing. The mission, the history, and the ongoing impact of this organization offered the inspiration; the entire team coalesced to design a space to convey the organization’s pride and dedication to its community.
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