
Family Navigation Center
ULI Nevada Placemaking Award for Excellence – Catalytic Place (2025)
The Family Navigation Center is a groundbreaking campus—one of the first of its kind in Southern Nevada—created to give families experiencing homelessness a safe landing place and a clear way forward. Designed in close collaboration with Family Promise of Nevada and Grand Canyon Development Partners, Sparkflight Studios shaped this 12,000+ SF facility into a warm, restorative environment centered on dignity, stability, and hope.
Inside, the Center brings together everything a family needs to get back on their feet: a welcoming reception area, private rooms for counseling and case management, flexible spaces for programs and life skills, and ten bridge-housing apartments that allow families to stay together while receiving support. The entire campus is rooted in trauma-informed design—calming colors, soft transitions, natural light, secure courtyards, and intuitive wayfinding—creating a place where parents can exhale and kids can simply be kids again.
Outdoor areas play a starring role. A quiet courtyard offers space to rest, reflect, and reconnect, while the residential-scale materials throughout the campus help the entire facility feel approachable and human. The design is intentional at every turn: practical where it needs to be, uplifting where it matters most.
Project Highlights
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12,000+ SF family services campus
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Ten bridge-housing apartments
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First-of-its-kind facility in Southern Nevada
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Trauma-informed design throughout
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Flexible program and counseling spaces
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Secure outdoor courtyard for families
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Residential-scale materials and finishes
In 2025, the Family Navigation Center earned the ULI Nevada Placemaking Award for Excellence – Catalytic Place, celebrating its transformative impact on Clark County families and the community partnerships it has sparked. The Center stands as a powerful example of how thoughtful design can restore stability, strengthen resilience, and change the trajectory of lives.