saint ann's parish - penticton
St. Ann’s, the Catholic Parish of Penticton has experienced reduced attendance and holds unused properties. Its school, located on its more central site is excellent but cannot accommodate all of the students from diverse backgrounds that are applying.
Like many catholic parishes in canada st. ann's is experiencing an increase in the value of its properties but a reduction of incoming revenue. The parish owns two church buildings, st. ann's and st. john vianney, as well as the buildings for the holy cross school, on sizeable lands.
The two churches are old, large, far from energy efficient, and expensive to maintain. a single, modern church building would probably be sufficient for the congregation in a small city like penticton.
holy cross school shares a large parcel of land with st. ann's church and currently serves grades k-8. it grew over many decades through the incremental addition of components as required by the increasing enrolment and is now probably close to the end of its useful service life. a small gymnasium is the youngest addition, it is in reasonably efficient condition with the exception that it is much too small for tournaments.
Our study proposed to consolidate the parish's buildings on the property of holy cross school and st. ann's church. the st. john vianney property could eventually be sold to partially finance the project.
Revenue could be used to fund reconstruction of the church so it may encourage attendance of mass, but also so it could be used as a concert and events hall within walking distance of downtown.
We designed stages for the redevelopment of the school without interrupting educational activities, its enlargement to include grades 9-12, and a final addition of a regulation size gymnasium. subsequent stages would be a replacement of the existing parish offices and rectory, addition of some subsidized seniors' housing, and finally a new church building.
The new church could be a welcome landmark, meeting point and venue for civic activities in a part of main street now dominated by a parking lot and shopping center.
Organizations like the Catholic church are showing a willingness to adapt their practices. Rethinking the public spaces could support and comfort us as we make the radical transition necessary for our rapidly changing world.
the following series of images will illustrate the concept and proposed staging.
