Construction for the Buchan Building (formerly The Eliot Center) commenced in May of 2006 and will be completed in June, 2007.  The structure will be 20,000 square foot multi-purpose building and will include eleven classrooms, a reception area, courtyard, 2-story atrium, and a private meeting room overlooking the courtyard.  The building was designed by Thomas Hacker Architects and is being built by P&C Construction.

The project also involves the renovation of an additional 12,000 square feet of existing space in the Salmon Street and Parish Hall complexes.  The total cost of the project will cost approximately $7.5MM (including 3rd floor & basement finishes). 

The concept for the building has been discussed for several years.  The process began with a Request for Qualifications from architects to develop a Master Plan for the entire block owned by the Church.  Thomas Hacker Architects was chosen to work with a church committee in developing a concept for the eventual re-development of the entire block.  Following renovations of the Main Street and Salmon Street Sanctuaries over the past seven years, the Education and Community Building is the first new building to be constructed as part of the Master Plan. 

DESIGN

The project is fairly complex from a design standpoint, due to site constraints and the need to join the new building with the Salmon Street and Parish Hall buildings. Although they have a common elevation on the first floor, the buildings have different ceiling heights.  This requires a central stairwell with four landings and an elevator with five stops.  This allows the three buildings to function together in a relatively simple and elegant manner. 

Another consideration which is not obvious is that there was a need to plan for accessing a sub-surface parking garage on the south half of the block, which might be built in the future.  Because of street circulation and grade considerations, the only location that could serve as a possible entrance is along Salmon Street.  With that in mind, the building was designed to accommodate a future ramp.  This proved challenging in designing the lobby and elevator core.

The building has been designed to serve as a multi-purpose building.  It includes classroom space, meeting space, a reception area and an outdoor courtyard.  The building is meant to take maximum advantage of natural light with an abundant use of glass on the north and south sides.  Several rooms have moveable partitions to maximize flexibility.  The elevator is gracious in size to handle peak loads, as well as serving the kitchen and furniture storage areas located in the basement of Salmon Street.

The new courtyard will be a central feature of the new building.  Surrounded by structures on all sides, it will be an inviting and contemplative space intended to work closely with new reception and lobby areas – creating an indoor/outdoor space when the weather permits.  The design of the brick pavers draws from the long tradition of the labyrinth in the UU Church. 

The project also includes a substantial amount of renovation to the existing Salmon Street and Parish Hall buildings.  The Salmon Street lobby will be changed significantly, with several structural upgrades, a new greeting station, interior finishes, and improved circulation intended to maximize the connection to the new building.  The old Parish Hall building will also receive structural upgrades, a sprinkler system, and interior finishes.  The connection to the new building will be emphasized with large openings that connect to the atrium and outdoor courtyard.

LEED

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the recognized standard for sustainable development and incorporates many different elements including water and energy consumption, materials selection, indoor air quality, recycling and encouraging the use of mass transit (For more information about LEED go to www.usgbc.org).  The building is designed to LEED standards and is expected to receive a LEED Gold rating, the second highest rating under the system.  We expect that the building will be among the first faith-based projects to receive LEED gold certification in the U.S.

Much time and effort was spent on evaluating various “green” approaches and technologies and balancing those with budget and other constraints.  The resulting building will be highly energy efficient (approximately 30% better than code), water efficient and will maximize use of resources though recycling, material type and the use of regionally available materials.  A few examples of the green elements include:

• The use of CFC/HCFC-free mechanical equipment in the heating and cooling system
• Maximum use of glazing to reduce lighting needs
• Daylight sensors that sense the amount of natural light available and dim light fixtures accordingly
• Occupant sensors that shut off lights/heating/air conditioning when rooms are unoccupied
• Low-flow water fixtures
• Stormwater planters that treat roof runoff before discharging to the municipal system
• High-reflectance roof to minimize heat gain and “heat-island effect”
• High-quality glazing to reduce heat gain

The LEED standard is comprehensive in its approach, encouraging recycling of construction  waste and demolition debris.  Of the three buildings that were demolished to make way for the new building, over 97% of those materials were recycled or otherwise diverted from the landfill.

These design elements will not only return long-term savings to the church in the form of lower operating costs, but they will be examples to congregants and members of the general public who visit our building about how to lessen our footprint on the earth.

To read more about the environmental features of the Buchan Building, click here.

EXECUTION

In certain aspects, this is essentially two separate projects happening simultaneously – construction of the new building, and renovation of the existing.  The renovation work on the Salmon Street building was largely completed by September 2006.

The project is complicated by the fact that it involves removing the existing stairwell and replacing it with one in the new structure – which won’t be in place until the spring of 2007.  This required significant planning to resolve egress and circulation issues.  Part of the solution involves installation of a temporary stairwell that provides a second point of egress from the 3^rd floor of the Salmon Street building.

Because of the relatively small size of the site and the schedule, coordination and planning is of the utmost importance.  Tom Archer with PBS Engineering and Environmental works as the Church’s Owner’s Representative.  Doug Mattson is the Project Superintendent with P&C Construction.  Tom and Doug work closely on a day-to-day basis to coordinate the work and keep things on schedule.  They interface regularly with Church staff and Gardner Grice, Head Sexton regarding access, security and other issues.

Because of the efforts of many people, including the Building Committee, Church staff, our project architect, the general contractor, and the generous donations from many in the congregation, this project is off to a great start and promises to be a success on many levels.