The conversion “required us to basically remove the first floor of the building and open up the lower level, which included a pool and a bowling alley,” Scott Kosnick, the school’s director of facilities construction management and planning, said in a project video.

Kosnick said the building’s first floor and lower level “didn’t necessarily align properly,” and credited Consigli for the solution that “basically allowed us” to continue with the project.

Photo by Chuck Choi, courtesy of Consigli Construction Co.

“This building fought back as we were trying to build it, so keeping the outside of the building intact while we demoed the entire inside was just a huge challenge,” noted Greg Mollnow, project superintendent for Consigli.

Removing an entire floor and excavating the foundation to improve acoustics and accommodate raked seating destabilized the structure, requiring new roof-level framing, all while a critical structural column supporting much of the roof had to remain within 1/16 of an inch of its original position. Engineers developed a micropile underpinning and shoring system to stabilize the structure.

The chapel also received a new slate roof, copper gutters and full masonry.

Additionally, a below-grade arts wing housing studios, rehearsal rooms and a black box theater leverages soil thermal mass to stabilize interior temperatures and reduce operational energy use.

Kosnick praised the project team for “some of the best communication I’ve had with a contractor in my 20-plus years of experience.”