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Union Presbyterian Seminary
Union Presbyterian Seminary, with campuses in Richmond, VA, and Charlotte, NC, has provided education for Christian ministry that is scholarly, pastoral, and engaged with contemporary life. Union Presbyterian's Seminary College campus in Charlotte was previously located at Queens College, where they were renting and sharing classroom space, and ultimately had to move out of their spaces. UPS turned to Shook Kelley to design a new site located on an existing Presbyterian Church campus in Charlotte.
Shook Kelley was tasked with the challenge of designing a new site located on the present Sharon Presbyterian Church Campus in an unusually shaped triangular northeast corner. The client's goal for this new facility had many levels of their aspirations to address. They wanted more than just a single structure—they wanted a campus feeling from a singular 21,000 square feet building. From a design perspective the desire was strong for a visual connection to the historical Union Presbyterian Seminary main and home campus in Richmond Virginia, while being good neighbors on the present campus and the architectural context in place. The building program involved a portion of the new facility to be shared by the Church for meetings and classes.
The main challenge was to create a place that felt like a campus through the addition of just one building that responds to different architectural expressions that have historical meaning to the users of the facility. To achieve this, we created a head house or entry building around which the four other wings were attached. These wings created enclosed plaza spaces; one hard and one soft. This configuration allowed for subtle differentiation of architectural representations addressing many of the client’s aspirations listed above. These expressions were not a direct mimicry of these visual memes but rather interpretive and filtered through a value system for creating places that will hold meaning for the present and future students and faculty. Many of the formalistic cues were derived form historical references as well as the aspirations expressed by the present group of users. By establishing this place framework, we allow for enriched meaning through use and time but simultaneously evoke an existence of this place before its use and time. What has been created is an evocative place in the surrounding area, representing the uniqueness of a Charlotte Campus and its programs.
Shook Kelley was tasked with the challenge of designing a new site located on the present Sharon Presbyterian Church Campus in an unusually shaped triangular northeast corner. The client's goal for this new facility had many levels of their aspirations to address. They wanted more than just a single structure—they wanted a campus feeling from a singular 21,000 square feet building. From a design perspective the desire was strong for a visual connection to the historical Union Presbyterian Seminary main and home campus in Richmond Virginia, while being good neighbors on the present campus and the architectural context in place. The building program involved a portion of the new facility to be shared by the Church for meetings and classes.
The main challenge was to create a place that felt like a campus through the addition of just one building that responds to different architectural expressions that have historical meaning to the users of the facility. To achieve this, we created a head house or entry building around which the four other wings were attached. These wings created enclosed plaza spaces; one hard and one soft. This configuration allowed for subtle differentiation of architectural representations addressing many of the client’s aspirations listed above. These expressions were not a direct mimicry of these visual memes but rather interpretive and filtered through a value system for creating places that will hold meaning for the present and future students and faculty. Many of the formalistic cues were derived form historical references as well as the aspirations expressed by the present group of users. By establishing this place framework, we allow for enriched meaning through use and time but simultaneously evoke an existence of this place before its use and time. What has been created is an evocative place in the surrounding area, representing the uniqueness of a Charlotte Campus and its programs.