St Barabara’s church, is a century old. Built as part of a garden city town, Treebeek, to support the mining industry in Parkstad. However the past 40 years has seen the closure of the mines and a dramatic change of the area to a dormitory town that holds few economic opportunities. However, in the transition, a critical opportunity has emerged as the town begins to see a growth in elderly care facilities.
The church, now underutilized, is positioned in the center of this lush sleepy town. Aiming to create a space of inclusion with a core focus only loneliness, a product of major transitions in peoples lives – such as moving to retirement facilities. Positioned as a community center, the intervention draws together the need for a dynamic space, able to transform and accommodate varied functions. Allong side this core programmatic requirement, the intervention had to remain cognizant of the architectural tradition of the building, drawing on its history and those elements which make it up. Informed by an in-depth study of the church’s history as well as core issues surrounding functionality and urban situation, the intervention aimed to seem indistinguishable from the original structure. Only those familiar with the old church would be able to discern between old and new.
