University of Miami
The Toppel Collection at the Toppel Career Center at University of Miami boasts over 120 different pieces of art around the themes of career, ambition, following your passion and defining who you are.
Career centers can be seriously undervalued by their institutions, but really, they’re a magical place where a special kind of alchemy occurs: on-campus learning transforms into real world employment. At the Toppel Career Center, students learn to brand themselves on resumes, speak confidently with interviewers, dig deep into the core of what they want – and then go for it.
With this in mind, the Toppel Career Center’s purpose is to Connect, Empower and Ignite- both the students and potential employers- at this critical juncture in life, careers and employers, to set graduates on a career path that will propel them for the rest of their lives.
Informing that path are over 120 pieces of art that ask the tough questions, that express our deepest drives ambitions, that give us ideas outside our usual comfort zone.
Welcome to the most important, most intense building in the University, where careers actually begin for real, where the rubber finally gets to hit the road. Very exciting.
Associate Dean & Executive Director Christian Garcia (photographed above) knew that it was worth spending the time to put together something beautiful, an immersive environment where everyone can do their best work.
That’s how the marriage between Toppel and Gapingvoid began. Inspiration, passion, drive and other important ideas become the foundations of the building. Each room is designed to inspire the natural use of the space. Interview rooms, copy machines, walking through hallways. Ideas inspire, driving action.
The Toppel Collection brings aesthetics usually only seen inside museums to an office environment. Many of these works reappear in some of the biggest, coolest companies across Silicon Valley and other corporate hubs. Gapingvoid has been bringing fun culture to office life since 2006. The Toppel Collection, is the largest of its kind.
Our custom curation focuses on inspiring, reassuring and energizing students at this crucial moment in their lives. The art installation is also designed to remind the career center’s staff what great work they do there, all day, every day.
We can hardly think of anything more important.
Christian created this video discussing his journey in creating an immersive, engaging environment for students, faculty and employers. Christian discusses his thoughts on how to imbue environment with meaning and creating spaces that connect people deeply. [read more from the article in InsideUm Magazine].
Our critically-acclaimed art is specifically designed to inject employers, students, faculty and donors with a positive dose of belief, connection, excitement and perhaps most importantly, possibility.
We guarantee transformative results. Let’s talk about how we can work on collecting data from your community that we can convert into a meaningful space that that will transform your work – not just once, but every day.