Holy Infant Catholic Church
Manchester, PA
As their congregational family grew, Holy Infant Catholic Church’s Parish found itself on the eastern most portion of its parish boundary. While their existing two story church and education building had served their congregational needs well, the parish was faced with aging buildings that were not fully accessible and geographically limited their ability to serve their growing congregation.
The Diocese of Harrisburg presented the parish with an undeveloped rural site in Manchester, PA that would locate them closer to the center of their parish boundaries. The challenge the parish now faced was how to affordably meet all their program needs within their budget on a rural site with limited municipal services and replicate the beloved design aspects of their former York Haven Church.
Embracing the benefits of design build, this collaborative, cost controlling method of project delivery was selected to maximize the parish’s budget and buildable square footage. Incorporating prefabricated wood trusses trimmed to look like heavy timber construction kept the feel of the interior of the previous nave, while the overall design allowed for future expansion. The result is a new one story, fully accessible 15,000 sf Church and Parish Center including a 315 seat nave, an administrative wing, large multipurpose room and classroom wing. Demountable and accordion partition systems provide maximum flexibility within the classroom wing. A full production kitchen serves the multipurpose room which also seats 250 for banquets. A feature of the design includes a bell tower and light shaft over the altar and tabernacle to draw light and the sound of the bell into the sanctuary.
Testimonial
“From the outset we felt you listened to our needs and ideas, and interpreted them into a church and parish center that is so pleasing to us. Without your help we could not have built something that both reflected our old church atmosphere and met our needs.”
Reverend Mark E. Weiss, Pastor
