April 19, 2022 – The Charlotte Hornets, in partnership with Bank of America, tomorrow will unveil renovations to Allenbrook Elementary School’s library, which over the past few weeks has been transformed into a multi-use library, media and tutoring space, as part of the Hornets NBA Cares 75thAnniversary Project presented by Bank of America. The new space, which is designed to empower students to work both independently and collaboratively, is one of more than 50 new Live, Learn or Play Centers created and dedicated by the NBA during the 2021-22 season, including one in each of the 30 NBA teams’ respective communities, to commemorate the league’s 75th Anniversary, while continuing the league’s heritage of helping and uniting communities across the world through basketball.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place tomorrow at 10 a.m. that will include leaders from the Hornets, Bank of America and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Following the ceremony, staff from the Hornets and Bank of America will participate in an active reading session with students from Allenbrook Elementary.
The Hornets and Bank of America teamed with global design firm Perkins&Will to create the unique space, which is themed around basketball and Allenbrook’s new mascot, the Gator. Areas include “Center Court,” a soft seating forum for small group activities organized around a custom floor; “The Swamp,” which is a small cluster of reading nooks with soft seating; “Investi-gators,” with flexible tables, chairs and smart board technology for active learning; and a “Quiet Zone,” featuring a Charlotte Hornets branded wall, basketball hoop and foam basketballs. The entrance to the space, appropriately known as “The Tunnel,” showcases the school’s new logo surrounded by inspiring words and a basketball scoreboard, while the interior of the room features a whimsical swamp-like mural designed and painted by North Carolina-based illustrator and muralist Raman Bhardwaj. As part of the initiative, the library was also restocked with new books from Promising Pages, expanding the school’s repertoire from 200 to over 5,000 titles.