This month, Black Girls Code is set to break ground on a 3,900-square-foot space within Google’s New York City headquarters. The space is set to be transformed into a tech lab where young technologists can learn and explore.
Black Girls Code was founded in 2011 by veteran technologist Kimberly Bryant. Though the program began in San Francisco, it has sparked numerous chapters across the country, including one right here in NYC. Still, the organization has never had its own unique, dedicated space in the city — and now it will be housed under the roof of one of the most influential tech companies in the world.
This design lab is just a first step in our much larger vision."
Black Girls Code plans to use the space, located in Chelsea, for staff offices, workshops, hackathons, panels, parent-daughter events and more.
“The renovation of our space in the Google building in New York into this design lab is just a first step in our much larger vision to create a series of innovative design labs in several of the communities where we have BGC chapters,” founder Bryant said in a statement to Built In NYC. She evoked Shuri, the much-beloved tech guru and younger sister of T’Challa in the smash hit film “Black Panther”, as inspiration for the next generation of women in technology.
The lab is being constructed in partnership with design firm Kurani. As founder Danish Kurani explained in a statement to Built In NYC, the design of the space was created with the theme of “cracking open tech” in mind. “We designed the lab for kids to see how technology works inside,” said Kurani. The designer wants young women to ponder the inside a smartphone, wonder how a circuit board uses copper and to question the similarities between cameras and computers.
“The design takes us back to breaking things open and exploring how they’re made," Kurani said. "When you remove the mysterious shell, the girls can see that tech is just parts and pieces, hardware and software they can tinker with and design themselves.” No detail was spared; even the ceiling features a design replicating the copper circuits of a computer motherboard.
We designed the lab for kids to see how technology works inside."
“The space had to be awe-inspiring and fill girls with excitement and curiosity,” said Kurani. “We worked closely with the BGC leadership and staff to translate these big aspirations into physical space.”
In recent years, NYC has seen an increase in spaces dedicated to tech learning. While many of these spaces, such as Cornell and NYU Tandon’s incubators, are dedicated to college-level students and above, the Black Girls Code space at Google is a welcome addition to the tech hub family, providing a space for young people — and young women of color in particular, to explore all technology has to offer.
