Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church needed to add a new fellowship hall, administrative offices, and a main lobby to serve the original 1951 sanctuary. The new facility also needed to connect the main building with an adjacent residence/education building while making the entire facility accessible to the disabled. The new lobby creates an important central gathering place that orients the congregation to the entire facility. The topography of the site required the fellowship hall to be 3.5 feet above the main sanctuary. A gallery along the edge of the memorial garden provides for a rotating art exhibit while negotiating an accessible path for the change in level between sanctuary and fellowship hall. The exterior memorial garden provides a quiet pocket of space for reflection and congregational gathering along the edge of a busy street. Dedicated as a place of memory, this garden was to be a quiet place, but also and experience to be given back to the life of the street. The garden wall creates an eddy along the edge of the busy street. The garden gradually imbeds itself into the slope as it moves away from the street. Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Rugby Road Charlottesville, Virginia

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Abrahamse and Co., Builders