Working Spaces had the incredible experience of partnering with DOORWAYS, an interfaith non-profit providing housing, hope, and support to the homeless community in St. Louis living with HIV and AIDS.
Founded in 1988, DOORWAYS started as a hospice for HIV patients who were suffering alone. In October of 2022, it re-opened as a multi-platform organization providing housing and essential community services with complete onsite support for its residents.
This revitalization project is especially dear to our hearts at Working Spaces. It’s the culmination of nearly one year and almost every single member of the team—all hands—playing an important role in helping this community treasure start a new chapter.
DOORWAYS: A Team Approach From the Start
Diane Lantz, one of our Workplace Consultants, describes the first meeting to discuss the needs, culture, and vision for DOORWAYS.
“It was over a year ago, and we brought the whole team to meet in the parking lot as we were in the midst of COVID,” she says.
Each designer, project manager, and consultant spoke about their role and how they would serve to elevate and deliver on the project.
“Working Spaces’ core philosophy is to provide our clients with a world-class experience—from commencement to completion—and we do that through our dedicated team approach,” says Tim Carroll, Chief Operating Officer at Working Spaces.
With this methodology, we were able to ask the right questions, and truly understand what DOORWAYS wanted to accomplish.
DOORWAYS: The Need, the Vision, the Results
There are 15,000 people living in the Gateway City who are diagnosed with HIV, making DOORWAYS a much-needed resource for the community.
Supported by donated items, furniture, and other factors—their headquarters were long located in a basement space and needed more support for its patients.
Thanks to a life-changing grant, DOORWAYS re-opened as a state-of-the art, three acre campus. Working Spaces worked directly with DOORWAYS to help re-envision a place that would support homeless and HIV people through creating spaces dedicated to each aspect of their services.
Creating Spaces That Heal
“We designed and furnished the apartment-style living facilities,” says Ms. Lantz. “This included all the beds, dressers, and we focused on vibrant, colorful materials that are comfortable, durable, as well as cleanable,” she says.
Using high-quality furnishings from Kimball International, SitOnIt, and Uloft, we also created various shared spaces such as lounge areas, board rooms, conference rooms, kitchen seating, workstations, including a cafe and outdoor seating areas.
In addition to counseling rooms, DOORWAYS provides its residents with a healing room—a spiritual room not specific to any religion.
As an interfaith non-profit, this space was incredibly important to be a place of healing, comfort, all fitting within the core philosophy of DOORWAYS’ mission.
At Working Spaces, each of our team members dove in to fully understand the needs of our client, and to provide them with the best client experience possible during this transformation.
Working Spaces: A Team Approach for the Future
DOORWAYS now has everything under one roof, providing hope, housing, and life-changing support services for patients living with HIV and AIDS. Their incredible teamwork of counselors, healthcare providers, support staff and volunteers change lives forever.
At Working Spaces, our team looks forward to seeing their bright future and hope to elevate other organizations through our dedicated team approach.
To learn more about this project, contact us at Wspaces.com.