2004 Rotch Scholar - Aaron Follett

Winning Solution Final Boards Preliminary Boards

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Urban Strategy-establishing a presence in the community

The church's goal for celebrating fifty years as a congregation is to forge stronger bonds to the community. Yet, the existing church sits detached from the main street of Brookline village, Harvard Street, where the pedestrian traffic and commercial activity thrives. Additionally, the front yard of the church is underutilized and its bordering four-foot wall is unwelcoming to pedestrians on Harvard Street. Instead, the main entry to the church sits on Holden and Pierce Streets where there is more vehicular traffic.

The cultural center and Children's Chapel reestablishes the church presence on Harvard Street. An arcade acts as a front porch for the church to create a public connection to Harvard Street. In a similar way, the streets of Boston's South End or Roxbury in Boston are used as congregation spaces before and after church service.

The arcade is the main circulation spine to the cultural center by allowing indoor activity to be exposed to the community the arcade offers an effortless transition from Harvard Street to the cultural center; as opposed to the existing church where all the activity is buried in the middle of the church; all the public space is hidden.

Massing and Scale-Adding the church scale to Harvard Street

The height of Brookline village's neighboring buildings is continues with the arcade connecting the cultural center to its surroundings. The height is respectfully below the large window for the main religious space of the existing church. While the height is maintained the volume is not broken and is continuous to give a larger, esteemed presence to the cultural center.

The existing church's pitched roofs break the mass of the church into two volumes, a triangular volume set on top of a two-story rectangular volume. The cultural center has a similar one story on top of a two-story volume. This massing strategy creates a larger presence on Harvard Street as many of the buildings along Harvard Street are broken into a smaller scale.

The neighboring building has large one story shop windows with recesses for the entries. In contrast, the two entries at the ends of the arcade are tall two-story narrow recesses again creating a large presence and inviting gesture to the neighborhood.

Program-creating informal congregation areas

The existing church is made of many formal rooms linked together in a cellular fashion. It lacks any informal gathering spaces. However, the community center has a café, gallery, and reading area that connect the main program elements to the church and arcade. These areas are open and flexible in order to facilitate casual encounters and conversations to take place before and after main events. The café and gallery connect the main circulation of the church to the main circulation of cultural center. A large opening connects the Cafe and Gallery. The vertical circulation is placed between the church and the community center for both to use. Each is key in unifying the private, formal domain of the church and the public, casual domain of the cultural center.

Materials-porosity and containment

The existing church allows light in but is still detached from the world outside. The punched openings for the shell of the church create for an inwardly focused program.

The arcade is entirely stick built. The arcade needed to be filled with light to allow for a strong connection to Harvard Street. Corten Steel is used to achieve the light feel of steel that is distinctively warm. The frame is pulled away from the corners to achieve an airy feel as well. Teak is used to soften and dampen the hard surfaces. The screen is broken to maximize visibility. Wood from the exterior structure is continued on the floor to keep the continuity of the space.

Board formed cast in place concrete is used to provide a continuity of the floor and ceiling planes with little interruption of structure. This is important to create a fluid and seamless connection between the formal and informal spaces that then connect to the church and community. The piers provide a solid ending and a perception of being contained and secure. The concrete has granite aggregate that matches the sills of the concrete. The stainless steel volumes that sit within the concrete volume are easy to clean and hold all of the support spaces.

Light-a lantern and a filter

The arcade is filled with light that is broken by a multitude of delicate shadows from the thin frame during the day. At night the arcade gives the impression of a glowing lantern.

Screens are used to refract and filter light and provide the unusual effect of an inward view. This type of lighting is important in a religious setting to calm and relax the senses.