Chatham Community Center Renovation and Expansion

Chatham, MA
Construction Cost: $6.9 million
Area / Square Feet: 27,500
Occupancy Date: October 2007

This project revolves around the adaptive reuse of a historic 1925 school building that occupies not only a prominent location in the town center, but a significant place in the town’s collective memory. The renovation and expansion called for new administrative space for the town’s recreation department, meeting spaces for various user groups, a multipurpose gymnasium and new building core and service spaces.

The design respects the stature of the 1925 building by placing the expansion in the rear. The new building deliberately does not mimic the materials and style of the existing facility, though it does meet the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s standards for adding to historic structures. The use of locally familiar siding materials, such as clapboard with white trim and board-and-batten systems, gives the addition its own place in the community while setting it apart from the historic school.

Exterior materials, such as white unpainted PVC trim, fiber cement siding products and aluminum framed windows, were used throughout the addition to limit operational and maintenance costs. The existing building was newly insulated, and the mechanical system now provides zones to respond to the varied demands of spaces throughout both buildings.