Photo courtesy of Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama.
Representatives from the Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama participate in a “groundbreaking” ceremony in February 2024 for a Girl Scouts DreamLab in the Vestavia Hills City Center.
Work has begun on the Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama’s new DreamLab in the Vestavia Hills City Center.
The DreamLab is going into an 11,300-square-foot space formerly occupied by Redstone Church. It’s designed to be a cutting-edge, program-oriented center meant to provide specialized programming and to enhance the Girl Scouts’ community impact within their communities.
The DreamLab will feature an auditorium with seating for 175 girls when configured as a classroom setting, but it will accommodate up to 325 people when converted to an event space, said Karen Peterlin, executive director for the Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama.
The DreamLab will give girls access to professional audio/visual equipment in a media center, STEM labs, art labs, a climbing tower and private spaces to hang out and talk. The concept is to provide a safe and immersive experience where girls can form bonds, explore new interests and challenge themselves, Peterlin said.
“In this state-of-the-art media center, the girls will be able to go in there where it’s totally soundproof, and they’ll be able to do podcasts, they’ll be able to do webinars and college applications, since some college applications now want a video or an audio,” Peterlin said.
“We’ll have five mini-STEM labs that are fully equipped for the girls to work on any kind of the science, technology, engineering and math badges that we have,” she said. “Girls also wanted spaces that we refer to as ‘huddle spaces,’ where they can just hang out with their friends and talk.”
The first Girl Scout DreamLab debuted in Colorado in March 2023, and this will be the fourth or fifth one in the country, depending on when it’s finished. It’s scheduled to open in June and will be the largest DreamLab so far.
Peterlin said the DreamLab will reflect the wants that girls expressed in a series of surveys.
“When we had focus groups with girls and did surveys with girls, what resonated with us was girls, loud and clear, said to us, ‘I don’t want my grandmother’s Girl Scout experience, and I don’t want my mother’s Girl Scouts experience. I want my Girl Scout experience,’” Peterlin said.
To make the DreamLab a reality, the Girls Scouts of North Central Alabama’s board evaluated its current physical spaces and realized it didn’t need office buildings it owned in Hoover’s Inverness community and Huntsville.
“Workplace and work environments have changed,” Peterlin said.
The DreamLab will have café-style workspaces for staff but will otherwise be devoted to girls’ programming and experiences for individuals and single or multiple troops.
The auditorium will feature a stage and state-of-the-art audio-visual system, Peterlin said. The space also solves a problem many troops have experienced when attempting to find affordable event space.
“For instance, we have troops looking for space to do a father-daughter dance, and renting a facility that they wanted to rent was going to be $2,500,” Peterlin said. Now, they can use the DreamLab.
Additionally, the auditorium will provide opportunities for greater community outreach and partnerships with other organizations.
The Girl Scouts of the USA has provided models for spaces between 3,000 and 5,000 square feet, allowing member organizations to save time and money on their final designs. However, at more than 11,000 square feet, the DreamLab in Vestavia Hills required additional design assistance from Nelson Worldwide to bring it to life. The project is being managed by Newmark Group, the developer of the DreamLab concept for the Girls Scouts of the USA.
Peterlin said the location at 600 Montgomery Highway, Suite 208, is an ideal location for Girl Scout troops around the state and is accessible for people with disabilities.
“About 53% of our membership is about an hour and a half away, so it can be a destination for girls from outside of even the local areas to come to the DreamLab and spend the day,” she said. “And there are so many other things that they can experience right there or in downtown Birmingham.”
For more information about the DreamLab, visit girlscoutsnca.org.
