MAPEI participates in #projectSanFrancisco initiative

On June 9, 2023, MAPEI partnered with the charity organization AEC Cares to donate time and money for #projectSanFrancisco, an initiative to help improve conditions at the Lark-Inn, a youth facility that is run by Larkin Street Youth Services in San Francisco, California.

The Lark-Inn provides a transitional shelter for 18- to 24-year-olds who are in the process of transitioning from homelessness. With 40 beds, the facility features dormitory-style housing with secure lockers, a kitchen and dining area (which serves three meals a day), laundry facilities, bathrooms and showers, group services, recreation services and a kennel for pets.

“For residents living here, it is a three-year-commitment,” explained Mike Granatowski, MAPEI’s Director of Architectural and Commercial Projects and AEC Cares founding participant. “The program has a 92% success rate. The young adults who participate in the Larkin Street Youth program must look for work and they must go to school or take training. It is very successful, and it is changing lives.”

However, according to CRB project architect Abigail Jones, the design lead on #projectSanFrancisco who was quoted in the official press release, “[The facility] has not been renovated in the 20 years the Lark-Inn has been operational, so some of the infrastructure was challenging to work around. There are large pipes in the way, a number of surface-mounted wires…We ended up needing to replace a lot of the existing lighting to make it more consistent, replacing flooring and one of the main challenges on build day was how to get 140 amazing volunteers into a relatively small space.”

MAPEI fit into that relatively small space, participating with an enthusiastic team that included Granatowski as well as Josiane Thibault, MAPEI’s Operational Marketing Manager.

“MAPEI has been a participating sponsor in every AEC Cares project since the first one in 2011,” said Granatowski, who has been instrumental in organizing MAPEI’s involvement with AEC Cares events. He described this year’s project as “our biggest one to date. We had 11 people from MAPEI representing almost all our product lines. It was great to all work together along with our industry colleagues to refresh and refurbish the Lark-Inn.”

Thibault agreed, stating, “We worked all day along with architects, engineers, contractors and manufacturers’ representatives to renovate the shelter. We were divided into teams to be more efficient. Some of us built cabinets, some built furniture, some painted. We all pitched in and ‘blitzed’ the building in support of AEC Cares’ #projectSanFrancisco. It was a great day working on a very worthwhile cause.”

Larkin Street Youth Services executive director Sherilyn Adams said that “now residents of the Lark-Inn have the reassurance of a safe and comfortable environment. For those coming into a shelter and housing, it offers a very safe, stable and beautiful place to be.”

Founded in 2011, AEC Cares is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization composed of architects, engineers and contractors, as well as manufacturers’ representatives who assemble teams of professionals, once a year, from the United States to donate time and products in order to renovate an at-risk facility. For more information, visit www.aeccares.com.