In 2019, Cherish engaged EMI Uganda in the design and construction of an administration building that would bring together multiple teams working in complimentary programs across a 20-acre campus. The Cherish Health Center, Family Strengthening, and Education Teams each continue to retain separate workstations closer to their areas of operation. But the strengthening of relationships across these departments is now promoted through a central place for meeting and gathering, affectionately called the “Cherish Heart”. In addition, the building houses the core administration team and serves as the main reception for the public.

The EMI design incorporates a diversity of flexible meeting and work spaces with varying degrees of formality, privacy, size, and exterior exposure. A thick stone massing oriented to the road frontage defines the public entrance, but the building form gives way through subtle angles and recesses to increasingly private, yet exterior spaces partially defined by overhead canopies, low walls, and landscaping elements. These spaces gather staff from circulation “arteries” across the site, revitalizing the Cherish teams around a shared mission to Change the Story for the children and families in their care.