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Pharrell Gifts Futuristic Community Center to Virginia Kids

The Pharrell Williams Resource Center will be a safe space for children to come after school and during the weekends and get homework help, participate in mentoring and personal finance programs, take part in community service projects and utilize state of the art resources such as music and computer labs.

Pharrell Williams is giving back to his hometown of Virginia Beach by building a $35 million resource center for area children.
The Pharrell Williams Resource Center will be a safe space for children to come after school and during the weekends and get homework help, participate in mentoring and personal finance programs, take part in community service projects and utilize state of the art resources such as music and computer labs. The space and its programs will be accessible to young people from elementary school through their second year of college.
The futuristic building will sit in the middle of a park, and Williams says its design is just as important as what will take place inside its walls.
“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,” said Williams. “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 center will be funded through Williams's charitable foundation, From One Hand to Another. The organization plans to raise funds through community partnerships for construction and maintenance of the center that is scheduled to open in 2013.

(Photo: Oppenheim Architecture + Design)

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