Case Studies
27
The Process
Phase one involved Springfield
Township using the church and rectory
buildings to temporarily house its library
and administrative offices while its new
municipal campus is being built. Phase
two of the project will permanently
convert the church building into a
recreational facility.
Prior to renovation and adaptation
of the former church building, all of
the religious artifacts from the interior
and exterior of the church, including a
concrete cross on the building façade
and religious imagery in the stained glass
windows, were removed. Except for
these elements, the building’s exterior
will remain as is.
The existing church and rectory
buildings have been maintained well
and are structurally sound. The size of
the church sanctuary and rectory nearly
matched that of the existing township
library and administration buildings and
were ideally suited for the temporary
relocation of both uses. In particular,
the open, vaulted ceiling of the church
sanctuary lends itself to becoming a
future gymnasium.
In the interior of the library, the open
layout of the former sanctuary was
minimally partitioned by both permanent
and temporary walls in order to create
private and semiprivate use areas. Library
furniture and bookshelves divide the
remainder of the library space and have
been used to separate the adult area
from the children’s area. Permanent
interior walls were built to create new
ADA-accessible restrooms and a meeting
room off of the lobby. Temporary half
walls, which do not extend to the
vaulted ceiling, created a computer room
and an administrative office and will be
removed during phase two.
Opportunities
Size and condition of existing
buildings.
Existing indoor recreational
space.
Proximity to Laurel Beech
Park.
Walkable neighborhood.
Challenges
Timing of bidding and
construction.
Installation of modern
lighting, communications, and
data infrastructure.
Accessibility improvements.
Parking.
Benefits
Continuous use of valued
recreation space and library
facilities.
Compatibility with existing
neighborhood.
Neighborhood walkability.
Phased adaptive reuse cost
lower than new construction
cost.
The interior of the sanctuary has been
fully renovated and repainted. Pendant
lighting has been replaced with LED
fixtures, designed for its future use as a
gym. The greatest building costs were
associated with installing a new roof to
increase energy efficiency.
Minimal changes to parking and
circulation were made as part of the
adaptive reuse project. The township
closed the East Pleasant Avenue
entrance to add additional parking spaces
behind the church building and to reduce
conflicts arising from a slight increase
in vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Additional parking spaces were added
between the rectory and Lorenz Hall.
Status
The temporary reuse of the church
sanctuary and rectory into the library and
administrative space is complete. When
the new municipal campus is finished,
phase two will convert the library into an
indoor recreation space including a gym.
Other than the removal of the temporary
walls, the library will require minimal
changes to convert it to a permanent
recreational facility. Lorenz Hall will
remain a recreation facility and event
space.
