Developing Program & Place

Client: Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY)

Location: Oakland, CA

Firm: FOURM design build

Team: Rodrigo Lima, Deanna Van Buren

Status: Completed 2010

“The space at Castlemont was truly a haven…for students and staff. With the kids, it was always a special place that was so markedly different from any other room on campus. Adults enjoyed the space as well. One colleague described it as her sanctuary on campus.”

-Yejide Ankobia, Dean of Restorative Discipline & School Culture

Located at the nexus of several buildings on campus, the site for the peacemaking room was a storage space in a double-wide trailer surrounded by a parking lot and garden. Using an initiative by architects across the country to provide 1% of their resources to pro bono work, RJOY was able to work with Deanna Van Buren to create a space for their program.

With a grant from the California Endowment we were able to outfit the space with carpet, furniture, plants, lighting, new paint, and artwork for their restorative justice program that will train teachers, administrators, and students to address conflict in the East Oakland Castlemont schools using restorative justice peacemaking circles rather than expulsions and suspensions.