The Manchester Youth Development Center (MYDC) project’s design and feasibility study began in the summer of 1989. At that time, the client was operating three different children’s programs at three different locations within five blocks of one another. They included a day-care facility, a facility for adolescents at a local church the Bidwell Education, Music, and Recreation Center (BEMRC) on Liverpool Street in Pittsburgh. The intent was to combine all the programs under one roof by acquiring the duplex next to the BEMRC and combining the structures.
The program for design included connecting the existing warehouse and school, and providing for an additional 11,000 SQFT of space to include six classrooms, a multi-purpose space, kitchen, offices, fine arts room, sewing classroom, reading niche, gallery and outdoor play areas.