This Is HUB RTP | Research Triangle Foundation

0:00

[ the problem ]

We were challenged to come up with an outside-the-box idea to capture the audience of HUB. The video would be used for the groundbreaking ceremony of The Hub RTP, the vibrant 100-acre downtown district of Research Triangle Park.

At the time of filming, however, the site was still under construction. This presented us with a unique challenge: How can we create something visually compelling that still communicates the emotions, themes, and key messages at the heart of a project when the site itself is still not complete? How can we capture the experience of what HUB will eventually be? How do you bring to life a walkable urban village and vision for an RTP downtown when it doesn’t actually exist?

[ our solution ]

The concept that we came up with centered on culture, art, and community. Rather than relying solely on architectural renderings or technical descriptions, the team chose to tell the story through the perspective of a local artist. We wanted someone current. They should be working, and contributing to the creative energy of the Triangle. The goal was to give viewers a sense of possibility and momentum while helping them envision the future downtown center being created in Research Triangle Park. This approach represented a new creative direction for us. We wanted to challenge ourselves and explore methods we do not always have the opportunity to use. We wanted to see if, beyond visuals, we could effectively bring in people to convey messages and ideas.

We partnered with Blackspace, a Durham NC group of spoken word poets to commission a poem about HUB. The spoken word poem became the film’s narrative, offering a human and imaginative entry point into a place that had not yet been built. Joshua Rowsey spoke the poem. He was a recording artist, actor, writer, and educator from North Carolina who, at the time of our filming, was giving back to the local community with both his art and his commitment to cultivating Blackspace. Hub RTP is an arena for creatives like Joshua who want to take their craft to the next level. With him in the video, he literally embodied all of this. He is the center and focus of our video, performing his poem for our cameras at night, under bright lights. His words and spirit fill the empty land around him, suggesting through their energy and promise that what is to come is just as vibrant as he is in the film.

To complement the spoken-word performance, our team also combined live-action footage with large-scale graphics, animation, and visual effects. We were able to bring energy and movement to a story about a place that had not yet been built. One member of our team hand created hand-drawn animations using Procreate, while another combined these animations with the performance footage. These graphics created movement and energy throughout the film. By drawing on the diverse creative talents within the team, these visual elements transformed unfinished construction spaces into visual representations of future possibilities.

Together, the graphics, poetry, and live-action footage engages audiences, inviting them to envision themselves within the future of Hub RTP and the community it aims to create. According to feedback from attendees, the video became the centerpiece of the groundbreaking event. Many people commented that it was the best groundbreaking ceremony they had attended because the film helped them understand not only what was being built, but why it mattered. More importantly, it gave them a tangible sense of the future of RTP and the role they could play within it.

For us, the project demonstrated how thoughtful storytelling, creative experimentation, and strong visual design can transform a construction project into a compelling vision of community, culture, and possibility.