This document was used at parish presentations on the following dates:

• Sunday May 1, 2005, 10:00 am Adult Forum
• Monday, May 2, 10:00 am ECW meeting
• Wednesday, May 4, 6:30 pm
• Wednesday, May 18, 6:30 pm
• Sunday, May 22, 10:00 am Adult Forum

Last year, the Vestry formed a Planning Committee for the purpose of developing plans for the renovation of the Parish House as Phase Two of the existing Master Plan. Phase One was the successful addition of the new Parish Hall.

The Committee includes Tom Metzloff, Cyndy Shumate, Paul Jacobson, Sarah Burdick, and Jim Pleasants, with Wes Newman serving as an ex officio member. Scott Benhase and other members of the staff regularly attend at least portions of our meetings. Our work to date has focused on the following key steps:

Determination of "scope of work" – A key initial point was to reach an agreement with the Vestry and among the committee as to the definition of the project. As defined, the scope of our study is the aging Parish House and its immediate "front yard." We are not involved in planning or redesign considerations for the sanctuary or other spaces.

Developing an initial "Program Statement" – One cannot design space unless one fully understand and appreciates how the community is going to use the space. For architects, this requires a clear sense of the "program" of the space needs/hopes. We set about in consultation with the staff and other members of the church to develop a preliminary program statement. This was presented to the Parish at the annual meeting in January and served as a basis for interviewing architects.

Interviewing Architects for a Concept Design Study – We identified about a dozen local architects who we thought would be well-suited to this project. Six of them responded and followed up with one-hour tours of the Parish House. Five of the six then made full presentations to the Committee consisting of a presentation of prior work, their "team" that they intended to assign to the project if selected, etc. We were impressed by the talent and interest of all firms that we interviewed.

Selection of Pearce, Brinkley, Cease & Lee – After extensive discussion, the Committee recommended that St. Philip’s retain the Pearce, Brinkley, Cease & Lee firm from Raleigh. Clymer Cease and Donna Francis are the two principals who are heading up the design study. I have had the pleasure of working with Clymer Cease in the past. He is thoughtful and very responsive to client’s interests. He will attend our June 5 mid-year meeting and will present preliminary aspects of the design study. If you want to learn more about the firm, go to http://www.pbclarchitecture.com.

Design Study Process – We are currently in the process of working with Pearce, Brinkley on the concept design. We meet every three weeks to discuss specific topics (youth education, office arrangement, etc.) On those specific topics, we bring in additional people such as three or four teachers in the youth education program to share their ideas about space needs.