This
assisted living facility combines the certified historic rehabilitation
of a WPA era elementary school and a new three-story addition.
Historic considerations required the preservation of major interior
spaces including classrooms, library, and a 500 seat auditorium.
The design solution used the new construction to accommodate
most of the apartments while reserving the existing building,
with its 13 foot ceilings and 600 square foot classrooms, for
common space. As a result, lounges, libraries, a great room,
reception and multipurpose activity rooms were designed with
the kind of grand proportions appropriate to their use and floor
area, and which few new construction facilities can afford.
A
special challenge was presented by the auditorium, which, with
its more than 20 foot high ceiling, raked floor and proscenium
stage, at first seemed to be a space whose preservation would
render it unsuitable. A solution was found by making the floor
level with the proscenium stage, eliminating the pitch, which
allowed the creation of a grand dining hall. The proscenium
stage became an interior atrium, the height of the existing
flyloft permitting the installation of skylights. The introduction
of natural light into the center of the building through what
was formerly the flyoft, is an example of the kind of opportunities
which are unique to adaptive reuse.
Photos by Stephen Sette-Ducati
