The Goducate Coordinating Center is finally ready! A shoe-string budget was given to the design team and they managed to keep well within budget. The all-volunteer Goducate design and decoration team, led by Alina (an architectural designer who works in one of Singapore’s finest architectural firms) was given less than a week to finish their job and they did a day ahead of schedule!
Since there is a possibility of us having to move to a new center next year, one of the specifications set for the design team was that most of the furniture and fixtures should be removable. They surpassed this target – only about 5% of total costs will not be removable to the new center.
The Goducate Board decided that the center should look like a command-center, ie, like the operations-room in an army at war. After all, Goducate is in a fierce battle against poverty and hopelessness. Alina also suggested that it should have a bare, rugged look to reflect Goducate’s operating environment and style. She also suggested that Goducate’s projects should also be high-lighted in montages so that visitors will have a better idea of the many and varied projects that it does.
During the few days of furious activity – most of which were done after office-hours and on the weekend because all the interior decoration team were Goducate volunteers – there was a great spirit of unity and fun. These high-energy and high-powered young professionals are the forerunners of what we hope will be a huge army of Goducate volunteers.
The final result was “awesome” (I heard this comment from several visitors) and has been an inspiration to all of us who work in the office and those who have since visited the office.
Our thanks to Alina and the Goducate decoration team!
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Renovating Goducate's Singapore Coordinating Office
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