DESIGN: Pharrell and Chad at it Again

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Whenever Pharrell and Chad link up, whether music, fashion, or art something amazing is bound to be created.  But architecture?  Yea we are talking about Pharrell Williams, but he has linked up with a new Chad; Miami based architect Chad Oppenheim.

Together they developed and designed The Pharrell Williams Resource Center a 30,000 square foot, $35 million facility in Williams’s home town of Virginia Beach.  The tree house influenced design is located in a small wooded area in an otherwise over developed section of Virginia Beach. The protruding rectilinear volumes reflect the creativity and ingenuity Williams and Oppenheim hope to nurture in the children who will use this facility.

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“I believe the architecture of a building says a lot about its soul and I wanted a building for the center that makes a statement to the world and the kids – something that will stand as a monument of optimism, and felt Chad was the only architect that could capture that.” said Pharrell. “We want the building to look like something out of the future, so it will inspire the kids in it to aspire to greater things.”

The PWRC will provide the youth with a safe haven to develop a creative process, while around the rest of the United States art funding is being cut at an alarming rate.  Hopefully upon its completion in 2013, the youth coming out of Virginia Beach can say there is more to do there than cook.

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