The Columbia Courthouse is a part of a series called the Home Collection. In the Home Collection series, I choose buildings that stood out to me for their architectural design and the experiences they bring to a local community.
I don't think I'll ever be completely done with this series because so many buildings that provide a gathering experience. Nevertheless, they all bring good connections. To me, these connections bring a sense of "home" to the soul and we all can share conversations about them or around them throughout the year. Home is the people that you gather with regardless if there is a building or not. A building serves a foundation of community gatherings for a purpose whether around it or inside the walls. Buildings help build relationships.
For Downtown Days, vendors set up booths/tents to sell their creations from cupcakes to polymer clay earrings to trendy clothing and more. For National Day of Prayer, people gather in front of the courthouse to pray for the community. In the daily life, people circle around in vehicles and turn right to go down the street for work or to return home. I believe the courthouse is a unifying symbol for Columbia.
Now, I don't want to confuse the reason why people gather for the purpose of a building. For example, going to a church doesn't make you anymore of a Christian, then going to a gas station to pump your gas. I'm simply saying that a building helps promote a cause - a resource for gathering.
There are many other spots a community can meet-up and connect. Those spots could be a good country-cooking restaurant with room to gather for storytelling, a business that provides local creatives' work, a church opening its doors to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, a newly renovated playground for kids to socialize, or a tire shop that gets you rollin' again. All these places encourage in-person interaction and building relationships, furthering the feeling of "home".
Any place can help build relationships with others. I chose the Courthouse as one to draw for that very reason. To me, the building a local landmark that encourages growth between one another. Buildings are the resources people use to build connections with those in a community.
