The Dream Center
2022
Calhoun Falls, SC

In Collaboration with Hanbury and Dreams with Open Arms

Awards and Recognitions
Grand Prize Winner of 2022 AIA Film Challenge
Hanbury’s Official Blog Post
Featured in Index Journal

“A DREAM STARTS HERE”

On the southern border of South Carolina, lies a small underappreciated town of 2,000, a town that has been waiting for a spark of inspiration. The Dream Center is a soon-to-be community center for that town, Calhoun Falls. LaSean Tutt, founder of the nonprofit “Dreams with Open Arms”, hopes for the Dream Center to be a staple for this community - a turning point for the people who live in Calhoun Falls. To achieve that goal, Hanbury and LaSean worked to engage as much of the community as possible, holding several community events, including the first annual “Rock the Block”. This event allowed us to put the future design into the hands of people the community center will serve, by utilizing VR headsets and projection. This immersive experience proved to activate the community, allowing them to feel ownership over the design while encouraging a dialogue between the designers and the future users.

As designers, if we want to improve the communities in which we work, we must include the community in the design process, it is the first step. These first steps will allow LaSean and her team to apply for grants for the community center and the rest of Calhoun Falls with the confidence that can only come from knowing that dreams can becoome a reality.