GREATER ST. MARY’S BAPTIST CHURCH COMMUNITY CENTER

LOCATION: Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

PROGRAM: Adaptive re-use of existing structure to a community center

CLIENT(S): Greater St. Mary’s Baptist Church

SIZE: 4,050 SF

STATUS: Design Development

PROJECT TEAM: GOAT (Architecture, Interiors and Site)

The congregation and leadership of the Greater St. Mary’s Baptist Church have been integral to the Algiers community for decades. Before Hurricane Katrina, they used the back half of an old dry cleaning facility for community meetings, to feed and temporarily house the homeless, and as a center for youth outreach and counseling. After the storm, the dry cleaning tenants moved on and the facility fell into disrepair.

The church deacons have engaged GOAT to reimagine the entire facility as a full-fledged community center, allowing the church to restart their critical outreach and support mission, as well as provide a brand-new venue for private and church events. In order to keep the budget in line with the church’s fundraising goals, the shell of the facility will largely remain intact, with new façade elements, storefront entrances, and finishes providing a facelift. On the interior, old partitions will be removed, the old timber structure exposed, and a simple palette of fun, resilient materials will be used to invigorate the space.

This project is exemplary of GOAT’s larger communal and moral priorities. We seek to work with any and all communities to bring good, contemporary design to as wide an audience as possible.

GOAT team: Peter Spera III, Colin VanWingen