We do most things differently at the Rural Learning Center, including designing the vision for the Maroney RLC facility. The idea to build a conference center for rural communities in Miner County is nearly a decade old. We could have hired an architect to design the facility, with input from staff and our board, and then presented our vision to the community. We would have hoped they liked it.

Instead, we decided to make the whole design theirs. We started with a blank slate and hosted a diverse group of stakeholders through a four-month community design process. We held several day-long public listening and design sessions, where community members, local leaders and sponsors sat at the design table with architects, engineers, and professional experts in the lodging, food, conferencing, technical education and green energy industries.

Using this kind of process means the RLC let go of the reins and let the community and other stakeholders truly own the project. Ideas were better. Collaborative relationships were strengthened. Needs were understood. And the result is beautiful.

You can see ther earlier steps in this design project on our "Building the Rural Learning Center" blog.