We Are Sharing Hope SC (SHSC), a nonprofit facilitating organ and tissue donation, brings donor families, recipients, and the community together. SHSC needed a building to support its lifesaving and emotional work of education, advocacy, relationship building, and counseling; the low-lying marshland site offered beauty, inspiration, and authentic connections between the program and landscape.
Though the site elevation is only 4’ above sea level, the design elevates the majority of the program above flood level on pilotis, and the building works with water rather than against it.
The ground floor is open to the elements and forms a sheltered haven for gathering and reflection; carefully considered landscaped ribbon pathways intersecting within the space knit the site together with hardy native plantings. The natural, authentic materials connect the indoors and outdoors. Bluestone walls, a common material in Charleston, bear the names of donors; these memorial walls are the literal and metaphorical foundation of the organization. Cast-in-place concrete runs upward through the building, and a glass-encased ground-floor entry volume will tolerate rising and receding waters during occasional flooding events. Zinc panels and batu wood elements wrap the exterior.
The interior materials are guided by the exterior palette and the site as well; white and black walls, wood-wrapped conference rooms, blue accents, and generous glazing all help to keep the focus on framed site views. The midcentury-inspired furnishings are selected and arranged for collaboration, connection, support, and decompression, and all interior spaces focus on wellness and respite for the employees doing a rewarding and difficult job.
