Year: 2022

Partner

CampUS Studios, Prototypia Collaborators

Location

Southern Vermont & Community Pop-Ups (Physical Heart of Prototypia)

Context / Challenge

Even within innovative learning models, young people and adults often lack spaces that feel truly safe for imagination, play, and collaboration. Classrooms are often restrictive, and community spaces aren't designed for creativity. The challenge was to create a dedicated environment where imagination itself is treated as a vital resource—a skill to be exercised, expanded, and shared, and a home for the collective dreams of the community.

Role

Founder, Worldbuilder, and Experience Designer — synthesizing principles of radical hospitality and human-centered design to create a Playground for Imagination where intergenerational co-creation can flourish.

What We Built

The Imaginasium — a creative studio and community center for all, designed as the physical and symbolic heart of Prototypia. It serves as both a laboratory for imagination and a community hub, offering: Hands-on studios stocked with tools and creative prompts; Imagination Portals that guide learners into themed experiences (science, art, storytelling, wellness); Intergenerational programming where all ages create side by side; and Digital connections (via KNKXN) that extend the hub's reach globally.

Approach / Methods

Experiential and play-based learning as a powerful tool for growth and wellness; Intergenerational co-creation to foster mutual understanding and skill-sharing; Safe-space design and radical hospitality; and the Integration of physical and digital imagination labs to blur the lines between learning and world-creation.Impact / OutcomesBecame a centerpiece location within Prototypia, turning imagination into the central tool for personal and communal growth. Offered learners a place where creativity is celebrated and validated as a core literacy skill. Strengthened families and communities by providing a safe, inspiring space to co-create. Positioned as a highly replicable model—a physical blueprint for fostering awe and curiosity in communities worldwide.

Story

“The Imaginasium is a place where imagination has a home. Children feel safe to dream, adults feel inspired to play, and everyone walks away reminded that creativity is the most essential form of care and worldbuilding.”

Tags

Imagination, Creative Learning, Children’s Center, Play-Based Education, Worldbuilding, Community Hub, Intergenerational