Together, Architecture for Humanity and Molo Design inspired hundreds of visitors at the recent Dwell on Design conference in Los Angeles, California to add their hopes and dreams to a wishing wall in exchange for paper cranes folded through Students Rebuild. The idea behind Molo's "wishing wall" was inspired by the Students Rebuild and DoSomething.org’s Paper Cranes for Japan initiative.

Molo designed a paper softwall and cylindrical seats to serve as Architecture for Humanity's booth at the conference. The softwall, an intricately folded partition system that stands on its own, had slits in it where passers-by were asked to insert wishes written on slips of paper. Most often curious and touched, sometimes surprised and occasionally skeptical, people wrote their wishes and added them to the expanding collection on the softwall.

Another conversation piece featured at the booth were delicate paper cranes, sent by the millions (literally) to Students Rebuild to support Architecture for Humanity's rebuilding efforts in Japan. The cranes were stored in a well in one of the paper cylindrically shaped seats. A well in another seat filled up with cash donations to Japan Reconstruction. On the first day of Dwell on Design, the paper walls were devoid of slips of paper. By the third and final day of the conference, hundreds of wishes filled the walls. The pieces of white paper resembled birds, creating a beautiful parallel with the Paper Cranes for Japan initiative.

Paper Cranes for Japan inspired youth around the world to fold more than one million cranes — vastly surpassing its goal of 100,000. That outpouring touched hundreds of visitors to the Architecture for Humanity booth at Dwell on Design who in turn were inspired to write a wish and leave a donation to support communities affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

A huge THANK YOU to Molo for making our booth a success, to Dwell for inviting us to the conference, to the visitors who left their wishes and their dollars, and to the thousands of students who folded...and folded. Let's keep wishing.