Old Greenwich, CT | For its 350th anniversary The First Congregational Church of Greenwich embarked upon an ambitious capital campaign to sponsor a building program that includes major renovations to the primary education/worship building, three residences, and multiple accessory buildings, as well as a redesign of central outdoor areas of the eight-acre campus. Allen Ross Architecture was engaged to guide the process, design the work, obtain regulatory approval, and see the projects through construction.
Church goals included connecting the primary gathering areas within the education/worship building, connecting parts of the campus via improved sight lines and new green areas, bringing senior staff and their families, including the Senior and Associate Pastors and the Music Director, into campus housing, improving accessibility, increasing preschool capacity, and upgrading the lighting, AV, data, and fire protection systems. Parking capacity was increased while the impervious area was substantially reduced. The result is an integrated whole that better supports the Church’s mission.
Additional campus cohesion was achieved via color schemes connecting the residential and accessory buildings and signage to the primary colors of the education and worship spaces. The historic styles of the colonial, Victorian, and Gothic Revival buildings are furthered in all the work. A new campus “Green” now provides a gathering space that supplements the new preschool outdoor classroom.
Consultants:
Structural: Cuono Engineering, PLLC
MEP and Fire Protection: Peterson Engineering Group, LLC and Krepak Consulting Engineers, LLC
Surveying and Civil: Rocco V D’Andrea, Inc.
Audio Visual and Data: Chis Demisch, LLC
Outdoor Classroom: Nature Explore Program, a division of Dimensions Educational Research Foundation