GREENSBORO OPERA HOUSE
Alternative Spring Break
My Role
Project Director
Project Duration
One Week
Problem
First opened in 1903, the once prosperous Opera House in Greensboro Alabama shut down on the eve of WWII and never reopened. Members of the community joined together to restore this unique architectural and historical treasure. Enter an aspiring group of students from The Savannah College of Art and Design who donated their Spring Break holiday to assist. Their mission, to collaborate with the community in the creation of collateral materials that could be used to raise funds for refurbishment and gain membership for the Opera House organization.
Approach
To actively understand the feeling that the Opera House portrays, we started off with research in the form of a tour of the building led by resident and board member Winnie Cobbs. After meeting with the members of the board we analyzed our findings and developed a strategy to aid their effort. It was decided that we should give the viewer a feeling of nostalgia and a sophisticated understanding of the historic architecture throughout the Opera House.
Solution
Our objective was to create a website and collateral materials that could be used to raise funds and gain membership for the Opera House. After creating sketches of potential deliverables and several rounds of iteration, we developed hi-fidelity prototypes.
Result
The Greek word for ‘perfect’ is ‘telios,’ it means to be perfect as a hammer is the perfect tool for hammering a nail, or a brush is the perfect tool for painting. Or to put it another way, ‘to be the best you can be.’ In this project, we did our best to create designs that the citizens of Greensboro could use in their efforts to restore a wonderful historic structure. Like them, we feel that a renovated and operational Opera House will play a vital role in the future cultural and economic prosperity of this town.
Our work is perfect—not in the sense of it being without flaws or blemish, but in that we used the talents that we have been gifted with to make a positive impact on the lives of strangers, whom we can now call friends.