Inside the architecture of The Center for Black Excellence and Culture

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Architect Rafeeq Asad said the design for The Center for Black Excellence and Culture is made of hundreds of small, intentional decisions.

For example, one of the first things people see when they enter the space, a 37,000-square-foot building at 655 W. Badger Road, is the staircase.

“I don't know if (people) noticed it, but they widen out as you go up them,†Asad pointed out.

Asad, vice president and director of team development for JLA Architects, was the lead designer on The Center, a cultural hub for Wisconsin's Black community that includes a theater, an art gallery, a workspace for entrepreneurs, and dedicated rooms for Black women and seniors. The Center's grand opening was on May 6.

For this project, Asad used principles of the Black aesthetic, employing design choices such as asymmetrical lines, lively and dramatic uses of color and the “will to adorn,†a phrase coined by folklorist and author Zora Neale Hurston that, among many things, highlights creativity and ornamentation as a form of expression.

“This is probably the most significant project of my career, not just because of the design and architecture,†Asad said. “Some of the responses from the community and the impact of the users and how they're going to use the space — that's probably what makes it more (significant).â€

Shimmering lights

Asad started working on this project in 2018, when he began working at JLA. But he joked that with projects of this scale, “you start over and over.â€

He described the process of designing the space as collaborative, working hand in hand with The Center's founders, the Rev. Alex Gee and his sister, activist and artist Lilada Gee.

“Whatever they wanted, we figured out how we could get it to them and make it,†Asad said. “They trusted us, and we trusted them, and it was a great partnership. I think the end product speaks for itself.â€

Leaders from the center worked with local companies such as Saiki Design, which handled landscape architecture, and ZEBRADOG, which handled experiential design, including a prominent mask wall in The Center's garden atrium. Madison-based company Findorff led construction.

The decisions for Asad start from the beginning. When patrons walk in, there's a welcome desk that, he said, creates one of the thinnest points in the entryway. The entryway widens as one moves through the first floor.

The same experience, but in reverse, happens when one looks at the patio (from the entryway, it starts wide and narrows). The design will “keep people on the patio, closer to the entrance,†Asad said.

Asad used building materials to tie the exterior of the space to the interior. For example, the copper-colored panels on the building's exterior are also used in the interior, making it look as if it wraps around itself.

“There wasn't a space that was left unnoticed. I've never really worked on a building with that much detail,†said interior designer Emili Spencer.

Art is a vital component of The Center, and Asad said he considered how to keep art central without making the space feel like a museum. “We wanted art to be a part of (the space), but not art everywhere. So we knew we wanted to have a gallery where we can have specific showings and exhibitions.â€

The narrowing-and-widening effect is also mimicked in a hallway leading to the gallery.

The space is full of bright splashes of color, from the soft purple found in The Center's main theater space to the blue in the innovation center.

“We were very intentional about choosing colors that would bring in the bold color, but not to a point that it was going to compete with the artwork and these exhibits,†Spencer said. “The colors are really pulled from nature.â€

Asad intentionally played with light in the space, evident throughout The Center and its prominent windows. Perhaps the most dramatic use of light is in the garden atrium, a staggering room with a floor-to-ceiling stained-glass installation. The installation is west-facing, catching the light and casting shadows inside as the sun sets.

One of the ways designers manipulated light is by using different paint finishes (one matte, one glossy) in the reveals, deliberate breaks in the wall of the space.

The reveals, made from copper, connect to form triangles, whose shape is mimicked both in the cantilevers jutting out of the second story and on the flooring on the first level. Although the walls are painted the same color, different finishes mean some reveals are glossier than others, so the walls reflect light dynamically.

“When the light hits inside those reveals, it shimmers a little bit,†Asad said.

Where desire lives

One of the major design choices about the space concerned both sets of stairs. (Along with the one in the main entryway, there's also a large staircase in the garden atrium.) The stairs are freestanding, meaning there are no structural elements beneath them. Asad said it looks like they're “floating.â€

“I think it's more impactful,†he said. “It also opens up the space to use that interstitial space for something else. Under (the atrium stairs), we have seating, we have the bar — we would not have been able to do that if we had the structure present.â€

Two of the most distinctive rooms are the Women's Center, a vision led by Lilada Gee, and Club Afrique, a lounge and VIP space that opens onto a rooftop patio.

For the Women's Center, Lilada envisioned a bright, bold pink on the walls. Spencer said they had to customize the shade of pink to achieve the desired vibrancy.

For Club Afrique, one of Alex Gee's ideas was to incorporate an indoor and outdoor fireplace that people could see through. Spencer said the amount of work it took to get the porcelain tile for the fireplace to line up with the asymmetrical slats above was a lot, but worth it.

“That was one of the most special moments for me in the building,†Spencer said. “When we showed that rendering to Dr. Gee, he stood up and was like, ‘That's it, yes.' I have a picture of him — he wanted his picture taken with the rendering.â€

Asad noted that many design choices reveal themselves over time. “It's fun to feel like you're experiencing a building in different ways as you move through it,†he said. “The building is art. The architecture is part of the art experience. We spent so much time just making sure everything was special.â€

In a guest column for the Cap Times about diversity in architecture, Asad shared a quote from the French philosopher Jacques Derrida: “Architecture is a place where desire can live.†That's what Asad hopes to inspire with the design and architecture choices made at The Center.

“If you ask Dr. Gee, that's the whole point of this: to incubate thought and design and innovation for the community,†Asad said. “Hopefully, the design allows that to happen.â€