The Old Chapel at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is an iconic cornerstone of the university campus. Dating back to the school’s founding in 1885, the university’s first library was dormant since 1996 due to code and accessibility issues. The university launched an expansive initiative to restore the Old Chapel, repurposing the 132-year-old building into a student center and resource space for lectures, events, multimedia presentations, concerts and banquets.
STV provided owner’s project management services assisting the client in the selection and oversight of a consultant team and contractors to reconstruct the 17,000-square-foot facility into a memorable place for students, alumni and visitors. STV guided the reconstruction program so that it was sensitive to the building’s history, especially its Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. Additionally, the program incorporated the university’s goals of greater energy efficiency under as part of its Sustainable UMass program. The restored, LEED® Gold Old Chapel is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was declared a “Best Project” by Engineering News-Record New England.
