ST. STEPHEN’S

The Henning Center
Sewickley PA

Converting an old house into a modern
high tech facility to serve the youth of
an upscale community was the challenge put before the architectural committee of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. The 16-bedroom residence was originally purchased to raze and convert to parking for a rapidly burgeoning congregation. Being in a historic district, however, the Rector and Vestry rethought its plan for the property. The space was instead transformed into a vibrant youth center offering a safe haven and comfortable hub for Christian youth to study the faith, and for non-Christian youth to encounter the Gospel. Within the first few months of operation, the Henning Center was serving over 275 middle and high school students a week. The second floor houses offices and small meeting rooms.

This project was a fast track, design-build project and required The Sextant Group to determine the program, and set the performance specifications. The systems contractor was asked to provide systems that met those performance specifications which, upon completion, The Sextant Group tested for the specified performance levels.