Below is my article published today in the Lincoln Squirrel.
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My Turn: “adaptive reuse” is a good starting point for community center
August 24, 2023 Leave a Comment
<https://lincolnsquirrel.com/2023/08/my-turn-adaptive-reuse-is-a-good-starting-point-for-community-center/#respond>
By Lynne Smith
<https://lincolnsquirrel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/myturn-sm-feb2021.jpg>
At the August 16 Community Center Building Committee meeting, ICON Architecture
presented options
<https://lincolncommunitycenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-08-16-3-Schemes_Reduced.pdf>
for the proposed community center. These options will be sent to an estimator
for refined costs. In this article, I will focus on Option 3, Adaptive Reuse,
estimated to cost up to $12.5 million.
As Lincoln has found in the Town Offices building and in parts of the new
Lincoln school, “adaptive reuse” can be beautiful and functional as well as
sustainable. The problem with the proposed plan is that ICON has tried to turn
three separate buildings into one, responding to the committee’s focus on a
single new building. But to accommodate the various stakeholders — COA&HS, PRD,
LEAP, and school maintenance — in this low-cost option, adaptive reuse of the
separate existing pods makes more sense.
The ICON proposal calls for 6,185 square feet of new construction, including a
large lobby and about 4,645 square feet of corridors connecting all three
buildings. The lobby, labeled Lincoln Community Room, seems to substitute for a
requested activity room. In fact, it appears to be a high-ceilinged
architectural statement, similar to the commons room at the new school:
beautiful but less functional than simpler activity rooms. The connecting
corridors are lower cost than the lobby area per square foot but are still a
significant expense. This is a creative architectural effort to turn three
buildings into a semblance of one.
I think Option 3, the one that many would vote for, needs more work by ICON and
the committee. The committee could allow ICON to develop good adaptive reuse
designs for each of the separate buildings (the pods) while committee members
further investigate the use of existing spaces in the Lincoln School, the
Hartwell building, the First Parish’s stone church, Bemis Hall, and the Pierce
House.
To free up about 1,500 square feet in the existing buildings and reduce cost,
the school maintenance workshop (shown in Pod A) and the kitchen (shown in Pod
B) could be housed separately. Maintenance could be placed in the Hartwell
Building (an alternative in all design options). The COA could continue to use
the kitchen and dining area of stone church for the Friday senior lunches and
for preparation of Meals on Wheels.*
Reducing the proposed building size at the Hartwell campus and focusing on
adaptive reuse rather than new construction might actually bring the cost below
$12.5 million, allowing funds to be delegated for needed work at Bemis Hall
(HVAC) and Pierce House (accessible bathroom).
I urge everyone to find a quiet hour to review the design options, especially
Option 3, Adaptive Reuse. I hope there will be improvements to this option
prior to the State of the Town meeting on September 30.
*Meals on Wheels is a Minuteman Services function requiring a Minuteman
employee to chill, heat, and plate 30-50 meals per day for home delivery. The
preparation can easily remain in the stone church kitchen, though a new
refrigerator is required there. As for the congregant senior Friday lunches,
there are rarely more than 30 people seated in the great hall, which can host
many more for special functions. I have attended many of these lunches and
enjoyed the beauty of this spacious room.
Lynne Smith
5 Tabor Hill Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
cell: 781-258-1175
[email protected]
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