It’s one thing to see a building on a blueprint or in construction infancy. It’s another thing to finally enter the real deal.

So how is it?

In a word, glorious.

It feels great to walk in the PBS Hawai‘i’s The Clarence T.C. Ching Campus and get to work. Open space, glass walls, cheerful colors, creative shapes, lots of natural light, a sense of whimsy. It’s an environment that promotes collaboration and teamwork by providing a range of contemporary meeting places. The building also is designed to keep everyone informed, with monitors throughout the building showing current programming and ongoing social media. PBS children’s characters have their own little neighborhood. With all of the vantage points, everyone can keep an eye on what’s going on in the beating heart of the new home – the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Multimedia Studio and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Learning Zone.

We were fortunate to have top professionals fleshing out the vision of an open, collaborative workplace. Kudos to our architect, Group 70 International’s Sheryl Seaman, and her team; Justin Izumi from general contractor Allied Builders System, an employee-owned company; and our owner’s reps, Andrew Tanton from Cumming, with Jennifer Camp.

The project has been built, on time and on budget, but there’s more to do. We’ll spend the summer troubleshooting major new technology systems; adding a photovoltaic system; and creating donor signage to acknowledge givers who made the building possible. We’re offering small group tours of the building to interested donors who made this new home possible.

As our Board Chair Robbie Alm pointed out, many individuals and families wanted to help and to have their names associated with this place for integrity and civility in public affairs, education and the arts. PBS Hawai‘i heard from a stunning number of grassroots givers – 1,500 donors. Thank you so much!

You can see our terrific donors’ names online, and many of the names also will be inscribed on the walls of the new home. We look forward to acknowledging them.

Next time, I’d like to tell you about two highly regarded content executives here, Linda Brock and Jason Suapaia. They will lead our charge in producing more content focusing on this place we call home – and they will bring you more ways to enjoy the content.

Home is here! Mahalo piha…