HC Media is an award winning local community access station with an uncommon vision. Unlike typical cable-access stations, they function as the growth plate of media. In simple terms, Studio 101 is 3,400 square foot televisual and audio production studio. It is a teaching space which accommodates curriculum provided by UMass Lowell, Northern Essex Community College as well as HC Media. It is also a community gathering space; home to the HEFF (Haverhill Experimental Film Festival), musical concerts by local artists and a venue for political debates, fund raisers and artist's openings.

The design evolved through a series of investigations and debates. We toured the studios at Boston's WGBH and researched other production facilities. As we explored the ways the new space would be used, it became clear that the modes in which media is produced and consumed are evolving too rapidly to use existing studios as a model.

Designing a single, purpose-built televion studio simply is not possible if the ultimate role of the facility is not knowable. Designing to a program that is a list of spaces and adjacencies does not work here; our program became a list of intentions and predictions. Studio 101 is a place of dynamic discovery and invention rather than place of static production. The role and modes of media will evolve and be captured rather than defined and accommodated.

The way this space will be used remains an open question.