WE ARE SHARING HOPE SC
Hope. Connection. Life.
Every aspect of We Are Sharing Hope SC’s organization honors and supports their mission to provide life-saving organ, eye and tissue donation. And that extends to their new home.
RSP delivers a sustainable, design-forward solution for a healing, transformative space for staff, families and visitors. The new headquarters supports innovation, provides a place for connections, improves the employee experience, and elevates the organization’s profile within the local community and beyond to the OPO (Organ Procurement Organizations) world. Ultimately, though, it is a place of hope and the celebration of life.
The site plan embraces the region’s indigenous flora, including the preservation of several grand trees, and makes the most of its wooded, marshy context. To accommodate the risk of flooding, the building sits on a grid of pilotis, creating a calming, contemplative garden beneath.
The garden offers a palpable sense of respite for visitors, and each detail unfolds in a quiet, ordered manner. A network of pervious walking paths meanders past bluestone donor walls, which appear to support the building. The path, which is lined with stone benches loops around a landscaped pond—a fitting metaphor for the circularity that is so much a part of organ donation.
Given the region’s climate, extensive analyses and massing studies were conducted to minimize solar gain, reduce projected energy costs and encourage air circulation. A Brise soleil of horizontal timber louvers on the southern elevation, and vertical shading on the western elevation, not only achieve the desired targets but give the building visual rhythm and a rich complexity of detail. North-facing monitor glazing allows for daylight with minimal exposure.
Throughout, natural, rapidly renewable materials drive the palette—crushed oyster shells line the driveway, Batu timber, zinc panels, concrete and local bluestone all work in harmony with the site’s serene setting.
DREAMBOX
RSP’s Dreambox, an in-house creative studio that creates brand-rich, experiential environments, added a level of environmental graphic design detail that reinforces the organization’s mission. Custom fabric banners, emblazoned with quotes from the families who have been touched by organ donation, frame a display window with views to the donor walls beyond. Dreambox also created “Intersections,” a print piece that captures the interconnected stories of some of the lives impacted.
We Are Sharing Hope SC’s new headquarters opened in 2022 and includes a training center, administrative offices, a clinical wing and public spaces. RSP served as the Design Architect and worked with LS3P, who served as the Architect of Record.
