UPDATE: Pennsylvania Office (cont.)
backgrounds, all concerned about the neighborhood’s
future, agreed to serve, including the District Director for
US Congressman Mark Critz, three City Council members
and the City Manager, as well as representatives from the
Diocese, SOS, JAHA, the EADS Group, local museums and
arts/cultural/history centers, and area businesses.
The project culminated in November 2010, when
facilitator Rick Truscello of the EADS Group, and Tuomi
Forrest and Bob Jaeger of Partners, coordinated teams
of architects to work collaboratively with community
members to generate re-use ideas. More than 100
members of the community turned out over a three-day
period, which began with an overview and description
of the work sessions, along with introductions to the
architects and designers who would be creating sketches,
floorplans, and drawings from the proposed concepts.
Participants also learned about successful adaptive use
projects from around the country.
Participants toured all three churches to see the interior
spaces and neighborhood context of each building.
The brainstorming session began with perceptions of
Johnstown and Cambria City – residents describing
their neighborhood and what it means to live there
– to contextualize the re-use ideas. Cambria City was
called “the ‘soul’ of Johnstown” and the “Ellis Island
of Johnstown,” – family-oriented, maintaining strong
ties even when people moved away. Participants then
broke into smaller groups, each focused on three broad
areas: creative arts/performance space, education or
social service programs, and business or commercial
use. Ideas ran the gamut from restaurants, theatres, an
ethnic food manufacturing facility and teaching school, a
columbarium, a conservatory, and a rock-climbing gym.
After the close of the second day’s session, architects
Philadelphia Regional Fund for
Sacred Places Advisory Committee
The Reverend Dr.
Roy G. Almquist
Charles B. Casper, Esq.
Helen Cunningham
The Rev. Yvette B. Davis
Scott Doyle
James Flaherty
Melissa Jest
Emanuel Kelly, FAIA
James Kise, AIA
Catherine Lynch
Dr. Roger Moss
Michael Stern
Monica Taylor
The Reverend Mark Tyler
Geraldine Wang
Eric Wilden
David Winkowski
5 • Sacred Places • www.sacredplaces.org • Spring 2011
created renderings of several of the re-use suggestions,
which were presented to attendees at the closing session
held the following day.
The charette, which was the first of its kind in Johnstown,
drew much praise from community members, and
attracted considerable attention from local media.
According to JAHA President Richard Burkert, “I don’t
think people understood that the churches could be used
for a variety of purposes. And these are potential new uses
that are compatible and sensitive, and still would preserve
the buildings.”
Partners’ Tuomi Forrest adds, “There was a lot of good
momentum generated from the charette process. We
were very pleased with the public turnout for the sessions
and the good input from a wide variety of people –
civic leaders, neighborhood residents, local officials,
representatives of nonprofits. It was a really good crosssection of the community, we thought.” Most importantly,
“These are not just design concepts. These ideas have
community buy-in.”
It is projected that sometime in the near future, one of the
ideas formed at the charette will come to fruition. In the