Cathy Novinger Girl Scout Leadership Center | Columbia, SC

While also home to Columbia Service Center offices, The Cathy Novinger Girl Scout Leadership Center promotes Girl Scouts and develops tomorrow’s leaders in energizing, flexible spaces.

A complete transformation of a late modernist state laboratory building, the colorful exterior hints to visitors the fun activities contained inside. It also responds to the City’s Innovista Design Overlay District Guidelines that aim to create a pedestrian friendly, mixed use urban neighborhood along the river.

The Center unites varied spaces and functions:

• Rock climbing wall in a newly created two-story lobby
• A 200-person event space
• Commercial and teaching Kitchen
• Girlz Gear retail store
• Art studio
• STEM lab
• Overnight bunk rooms (each themed to a different curriculum related adventure)
• Informal lounges
• Board and meeting room adjacent to the office suite
• Outdoor dining and gathering with fire pit and splash pad

While the parts may seem very different, a fun and professional aesthetic supports a consistent theme that when you are here, “Girls Rule.” Our interior design team celebrated the Girl Scout mission and brand identity through custom graphics and the selection of furnishings, signage, and accessories.

2023 Merit Award from AIA South Carolina for Adaptive Reuse / Historic Renovation

2021 Historic Columbia Foundation Preservation Award for Revitalization
2021 IIDA Carolinas Government/Institutional Honorable Mention Interior Design Award

  projects