Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall
Greenfield, MA
Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall
Blessed Sacrament is a center of spiritual and community life in Greenfield, MA. As such, they were looking for an architectural partner who understands the value of creating space that emphasizes connection, interaction, and purpose. For this project, we designed for function and engagement, but also with a reverence for—and sensitivity to—the meaning that this place must maintain.
The clients desired a singular space with the flexibility to gather after services and host community meals, as well as conduct Catholic Catechism, which we accomplished through a system of operable partitions. The design challenge came in figuring out how to impose a planar grid for the partitions in a space that wants to be high volume and filled with natural light. The solution was a double-loaded corridor that inverts the spatial rhythm of the church: where the church has a high volume nave and low side aisles, the parish hall has a low center aisle and high volume spaces at the sides, each of which becomes a temporary classroom. The space above the center aisle serves as a mechanical loft and air plenum serving the classrooms.
The building is a magnet for the Blessed Sacrament Church community, offering a place to meet in large and small groups and engage in outreach to the community at large.