The Black Scranton Project Center for Arts & Culture (BSPCAC) is an initiative to provide a safe and secure environment for creative expression, community outreach, and recreation through an atmosphere of diversity and inclusion. The BSPCAC would provide a space where children and adults alike, with an emphasis on BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, low income groups, and marginalized youths, can engage with one another and enrich themselves through educational programs, art workshops, counseling, tutoring, job assistance, and after-school programs. As such, the spacious former North Scranton Bank building situated at 1900 N. Main Avenue in Scranton’s North side is an ideal venue for the BSPCAC. Designed in 1926 by local architect David H. Morgan, the building harkens to the classical architecture of the English and Italian Renaissance while embracing the art deco design elements prevalent of the period in which it was constructed. The interior, clad in Italian Montinelle marble and trimmed with bronze beneath an extravagant polychrome decorated ceiling, provides an open environment to accommodate a variety of activities for members of the Scranton community. Our proposal highlights and celebrates the historic art deco elements of the space while adding color and opening the space, uniting classical and modern elements of design to create a vibrant space which stimulates, invigorates, and inspires. The heavy steel vault in the main space, a remnant of the historic North Scranton Bank, emphasizes the security and importance of the archival elements housed within by the Black Scranton Project while remaining open - fostering a sense of inclusiveness and unity in our shared heritage and history. By unifying our past and present through sensitive treatment of the building’s history in tandem with modern design via color, sculpture, art, and life, the space itself stands as a symbol of the harmony between our heritage and our community.

We investigated the building and rediscovered it's original ornate ceiling. We think the mezzanine was originally open, too. We came up with two renderings of the bank lobby- one is how it could be used as a cultural center and the other is how we imagine the interior space originally looked. We also provided a rendering of the proposed music studio and the art room (with 1980's video game theme).