826 Valencia Tenderloin Center wins Contract magazine’s Interiors Award for Education

Interiors Awards 2017: Education

Murrye Bernard | Contract Magazine

826 Valencia Tenderloin Center
Designers: Gensler, MKThink, and collaborators
Client: 826 Valencia
Location: San Francisco

“This inspired interior promotes creativity and exploration, creating an unexpected wonderland with a richness of spirit. One is transported into a tactile fantasy space that is full of surprises. It is exciting that they did this on a very minimal budget.” —Jury

Author Dave Eggers and educator Ninive Calegari founded the nonprofit 826 Valencia in 2002 with the goal of supporting the creative writing skills of under-resourced students from ages 6 to 18. Named for the street address of its original location in San Francisco’s Mission District, 826 Valencia soon expanded across the U.S. with several chapters. The organization recently opened its second San Francisco location, with a writing center as well as a retail component in the Tenderloin neighborhood...