• St Mary Church and School

The facility consisted of a school building separated from a church and undercroft by a courtyard populated by a grove of crabapple trees and a grotto. The program called for an addition to the school building to accommodate an administrative area, two kindergarten classrooms, a library and a computer lab, and an elevator to connect grade, the narthex and the undercroft of the church. We were also to renovate the undercroft, which had been partitioned into classrooms.

We aligned the entry into the new school with the bell tower which serves as a landmark for the neighborhood. To bring light into the classrooms on the lowest level, we created a sunken courtyard into which we placed the grotto. Sinking the courtyard allowed us to open doors and full height windows into the undercroft.

We placed the elevator and stair tower addition on the south side of the church, away from the wonderful stained glass windows in the nave. We connected stair and elevator to the narthex by means of a glass-enclosed bridge. The stair is enclosed in glass.

The project won awards from both AIA Ohio and AIA Cincinnati.