Students give Displaced Homemakers of Tompkins County a new look

From left, Rhonda Gilmore, lecturer in design and environmental analysis, goes over last-minute changes to the design boards for Displaced Homemakers of Tompkins County with sophmore interior design students Takako Hirano and Szandra Toth. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Susan Lang

The home of Displaced Homemakers of Tompkins County is one of several older structures on Tioga Street. Thanks to a Cornell sophomore class project, however, the building soon will have all new signs and detailed plans for a facelift, inside and out.

Displaced Homemakers is a nonprofit agency that helps widowed, separated or divorced women re-enter the labor force after years of unemployment.

As part of their final project for Interior Design Studio IV in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis in the College of Human Ecology, 15 sophomores created designs for improving the facilities in the 106-year-old building. In small teams, they analyzed the structure, assessing the current space use of the facility, the two conference training areas, the kitchen, the lobby, lighting, interior and exterior signage and paint schemes.

"The students encountered design issues in this building and organization that are very similar to ones they will encounter working for a design firm," explained Rhonda Gilmore, a design consultant and course instructor. "Redesigning interiors in historic properties used by nonprofit agencies gives students an opportunity to use what they learn here to make a real difference in the community."

First the students documented the building's interior spaces, using photography and verifying existing blueprints. Displaced Homemakers staff provided detailed information about how they used the spaces, their needs and the problems with spatial distribution. The sophomore interior designers also studied aspects of historic preservation and reviewed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations. Andrea Haenlin Mott, an ADA training coordinator in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, provided students with compliance information as well as personal views on using a wheelchair indoors.

"The students then had to prepare a schematic design presentation that would serve not only as a means to educate their client about the design process, but also to demonstrate their knowledge of design as a tool to affirm their client's mission, goals and needs. This initial presentation addressed the Displaced Homemakers' current and future physical environment challenges," explained Gilmore.

The students' final projects will be presented to the board of directors of Displaced Homemakers and will include large presentation boards with drawings outlining redesigned spaces as well as a book of specifications that lists detailed product information for all recommended items. The client will be able to use this book to apply for funding to make the recommended upgrades, said Gilmore, who earned her M.A. at Cornell in 1995. Her class did a similar project last year with Family and Children Services of Ithaca. That project helped enable the agency to obtain grant money to install a new exterior sign and a mission statement in the lobby.

"Another purpose of this kind of service-learning project is to plant a seed in these students to continue doing pro bono work once they are professionals. Cornell students really want to make a difference, and this kind of altruistic experience allows them to use design to do so," said Gilmore. "Nonprofits generally cannot afford design services but are so grateful to receive them. I hope these students will remember how gratifying it is to offer this kind of service and will undertake similar projects with nonprofits in the future."

"The class gave us an opportunity to develop genuine communication with the client," said Christina Sur, a sophomore from Queens, N.Y., who worked on the computer training and administrative space. "Working with a small nonprofit organization allowed for a more intimate and compassionate relationship as opposed to working with a big corporation."