location

Fairchilds, TX

Area of building

16,685 sf

completion date

Winter, 2010

Project information

Fort Bend County no longer lacks both a counseling center and emergency shelter for homeless and at risk youth, to enable troubled teens to successfully resolve problems and become productive adults. The mission of Parks Youth Ranch, Inc. is to provide emergency shelter, counseling and life changing services to at risk and homeless youth. Community agencies, law enforcement, schools, and families are now able to refer youth between the ages of 13 and 17 for services. The Fred and Mabel R. Parks Youth Ranch provides a counseling center that contains agency offices, family meeting areas, counseling rooms and safe waiting areas. Counselors can meet with the teens and their families and develop a plan with community referrals.

The shelter can house up to 20 residents (future expansion of 10 more beds is possible) for up to 90 days. The shelter has administrative and counseling offices, kitchen, dining and laundry facilities and provides library/study areas and a variety of living spaces to allow for different group sizes or alone time.

More than 8 acres overall, the site is divided into 3 parts; the back 1/3 is open grassland and may be used for tree farms, crops or small livestock; the middle 1/3 contains 2 ponds with fish and a fishing pier; the front 1/3 has access to the main highway and comprises the main campus including all the buildings and drives. This front area is wooded and has open and protected play and activity areas including a covered play area and enclosed play area. Although the counseling and shelter facilities operate independently they complement each other and provide 2-way support when necessary. A safe environment for homeless and at risk youth can now be found in Fort Bend County in a friendly ranch style setting.

Roles/Phases Provided By J. Matthew Brown, AIA, REFP

Full architectural services including: marketing materials and renderings, visioning, programming, concept and schematic design, design development, bidding, permitting, and construction administration.