Next Step Committee
Chapel of the Cross
Dec. 19, 2004
Attending: Committee members Paul Carew, Martha Dill, Terry Eason, Linda Rimer, Barbara Schutz, Rob Sullivan, Ted Vaden. Ex officio, Dick Taylor. Absent: Jay Bryan, Robert Wright, Stephen Elkins-Williams, John McGee.
Ted welcomed Linda Rimer, who becomes a member of the Next Step Committee and the Facilities Subcommittee, serving as liaison to the Environmental Stewardship Committee, which she chairs. Her appointment by the Rector and wardens comes after a fruitful meeting with Rob and Ted and the ES Committee.
The Next Step Committee spent all of our time reviewing expressions of interest submitted by architects and planning next steps for the committee. Terry, Martha and Rob previewed the submissions and presented them to the committee. The four proposals are from Ann Beha Architects of Boston, BlundenPiesse Architects of Chapel Hill, Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York and WGM Design of Charlotte.
Terry was enthusiastic about the proposals, saying they indicated excitement about our project from some first-rate design firms. He was impressed with the Stern firm for their raw design skills and ability to get complex programs to fit buildings of historical importance. Giles Blunden’s firm was recommended by Barbara and Martha, who both have used them for residential projects. The Beha firm is doing restorations of the old Playmakers Theater and Gerrard Hall on campus, and Stern is doing the new Student Services Building. WGM has done numerous church projects, including Good Shepherd Raleigh and St. Peters Charlotte. At Martha’s suggestion, Terry will ask Beha about their experience with new construction, as opposed to restorations. Terry will also e-mail copies of the cover letters from each proposal to all the Next Step Committee members. Martha also suggested that we talk to designers at UNC regarding any restrictions we may encounter from UNC relative to our project.
The committee agreed that our next steps would be to make site visits to comparable projects and, based on those visits, decide which firms to invite in for interviews. Terry may add two or three more firms to our list. The interviews would be held as early in February as possible. In the meantime, Terry will respond to the firms, thank them for their submissions and advise them of our timetable.
The committee agreed to three sets of site visits, as follows:
- Afternoon visit to neighboring churches University Presbyterian and University Baptist on Sunday, Jan. 9. Ted will make arrangements.
- All-day visits to St. Paul’s Winston-Salem and St. Peter’s Charlotte on Saturday, Jan. 29th. Ted will make arrangements.
- Weekday visit to Good Shepherd Raleigh the week of Jan. 10. Ted will make arrangements.
We will need to rent a van for the Jan. 29th trip. Ted will arrange.
Next meeting of the Next Step Committee will be Sunday, Jan. 9, at 1:30 p.m., when we’ll gather at the church for the visits to University Pres and Baptist. Tentatively, those stops would be at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Subsequent meetings of the committee will be on the third Sunday of the month, at 1:30 p.m.
Next meeting of the Next Step Committee will be Sunday, Dec. 19, 2004, at 2:30 p.m. Note that the time has been changed from 1:15 p.m. for this meeting only.
Last updated: February 18, 2005
