Southside-based architecture and communication firm
SPRINGBOARD, known for its work with the
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and Butler’s
Maridon Museum, is taking its designs to national clients.
Wellesley College, located outside of Boston, has commissioned SPRINGBOARD to renovate its 2,500 square-foot
Davis Museum and Cultural Center. “We were invited to redesign their contemporary galleries and work on a new lobby; now we’re talking to them about redesigning their permanent collection,” says Paul Rosenblatt, who founded SPRINGBOARD in 2001. “We’re excited that people are beginning to look in our direction for quality design services, not only for us, but for Pittsburgh."
For the 6,000 square-foot
Backus Museum, located in Fort Pierce, Florida, SPRINGBOARD will design modernized facilities. The museum was established in 1960 by Florida’s preeminent landscape painter, who mentored self-taught African-American painters. “This will lengthen the life of the work. We look at museums as holistic environments,” says Rosenblatt. Plans call for tripling the space, creating a 20,000 square-foot arts center.
On its home turf, SPRINGBOARD is designing Fox Chapel's $5M, 30,000 square-foot
Boyd Community Center, and a 4,000 square-foot dining pavilion at
CMU. “The idea that you have to go to New York or Boston for your libraries and community centers is changing,” says Rosenblatt. “There’s no reason why design leadership can’t come from post-Industrialist Pittsburgh. We have the ingredients of an incredibly creative and positive community.”
Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Paul Rosenblatt, SPRINGBOARD
Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene