One Of Those Crazy Ideas that Actually Happened

Remember the story about the guy who turned a red paperclip into a house? The story I’m telling here is kind of like that, though it started with an idea instead of a paperclip. Still, it turns into a house.

Let me start at the beginning, the first time I heard about the idea, and by the end of the story you’ll know if there’s a role for you to play in taking it to the next level.

Hearing the Wild Idea for the First Time

From the minute James Jorasch and I (shown above) met over two years ago, we knew we’d work together in some capacity. We got together for lunch one sunny afternoon to discuss possibilities.

James had spent many years working as an inventor and entrepreneur. His inventions were licensed by companies like Priceline, HP, Facebook and IGT. After years of successfully working to create high growth potential startups from scratch and inventing useful and fun technologies across many industries, he was finally ready to create his own enterprise: Science House. He’d dreamed about it for decades, and I met him just as the the vision sharpened into view. His goal, he said, was to bring the world’s most creative minds together to take on the greatest challenges.

There’s nothing else he could have said that would have sounded more like music to my ears.

The Plan on Paper

James didn’t just tell me that he had a big idea. He actually presented a floor plan for a seven-story Manhattan townhouse. On a white page, black ink showed the shape of each room in the house as James pointed and explained.

“That’s going to be the lecture hall,” he said. “It has a spectacular skylight. This room here will have whiteboard paint on all the walls so people can brainstorm. There are kitchens here,” he said, indicating one level and then another, “and here. People can eat and relax. There’s a roof deck with a view of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.”

The Invitation

He paused then as we looked at the page, imagining the possibilities.

“I want people to collaborate and brainstorm here,” he said. “The best minds solving the biggest challenges.”

“That sounds like the best thing I’ve ever heard,” I said.

“You design collaborative experiences, right?”

“I do.”

“Can you design Science House?”

My imagination ran wild as I held the floor plan. Would I design Science House?Absolutely!

In addition to holding events, lecture series and brainstorming sessions, Science House would also be the setting for groups of between five and a dozen people working together to solve a difficult problem, he explained. He went on to describe his vision in detail.

“Science House needs to be comfortable and casual,” James said. “People need to feel like they’re at home, but at the same time we will encourage creativity and the exchange of ideas. People need to be relaxed but also excited about solving problems. Science House is a place for people to think differently and yet strategically, expand their minds and social networks and gain confidence. It’s got to be the ultimate offsite meeting place for a group on a mission.”

I would do whatever it took to make this vision a reality. A place for people to relax, to escape the dizzying speed of constant transformation, to focus together on strategy and execution while amplifying business to create the world we can imagine.

I could already see the future. I was sold.

A Reality Check

This luminous fantasy was tempered, however, when James explained that he was involved in a typically complex New York City real estate transaction. It might take some time to get the building, he said, and there was no guarantee of success. Ah. So maybe the deal wouldn’t tip in his favor. During this period, James slogged through months of negotiations, endless paperwork, obstacles and unexpected setbacks. It was grueling to watch the stress of the transaction, knowing that his dream hung in the balance.

And then one day, the closing took place and the outline on the floor plan became a real house. The real stress, it turned out, was only just beginning.

Making the Plan Work

The same way the floor plan turned into a real building, that building in turn needed to become Science House. The euphoria of a closed real estate deal after so much work gave way to a new, equally daunting reality. The empty building required a huge amount of attention, time and effort. It needed to embody the full vision of becoming the ultimate destination for creative teams to have retreats and brainstorming sessions.

More than a year after we first met to discuss Science House, James and I found ourselves standing together in the building, which Abraham Lincoln’s son originally built for his daughter, admiring the magnificent restoration of the spiral staircase leading all the way up to the glass floor of the lecture hall.

Each day, we shaped it more and more, transforming it as we met with contractors, electricians, plumbers, roofers, painters, furniture delivery people, air conditioning specialists, boiler repair people, masons, carpenters, insurance agents, cable installers, elevator repairmen, window washers, locksmiths and horticulturists. During this period we faced gas leaks, leaky drain pipes, basement flooding, a blackout, problems with the heat--you name it.

Then one day we found ourselves scrambling to hang space art on the walls when we were asked to host an event for astronauts and NASA personnel the night the space shuttle was moved to the Intrepid. We realized that along the way, the vision had become real.

Where You Come In

The same way the floor plan became a building, and that building became Science House, now it will become the story of the world transformed by the minds and considerable effort of the teams that meet here. Now that Science House is open for business, we have a roster of services. Creative teams are responding the way we hoped (the first major offsite retreat we hosted was for Google Creative Lab).

We also have a not-for-profit charity, Science House Foundation, operating in 27 countries and counting. Our goal is to get kids around the world excited about science, because science is the future of the world. The next Marie Curie or Albert Einstein might just be living in the favelas in Brazil or a refugee camp with no access to fresh water, much less a globally collaborative team of young peers. We need you to help us expand our network so we can get into every country in the world and create an interconnected web of curious children willing to experiment to make the discoveries that may just change the way all of us see and experience the world.

Imagine how far we can take this crazy plan together.

Image Credit: Robson Langhammer