(CS2.2) The Virginia Mae Center at Washington National Cathedral: Modernizing an Ecclesiastical Gothic Retreat

The Virginia Mae Center (VMC), located on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral reclaims a 1929 Neo-Gothic structure that once served as the College of Preachers. For nearly 80 years, the 27,000 SF building provided dormitories and educational space for religious studies and fellowship. In 2008, changing economics closed the College’s doors and the structure sat vacant and deteriorating for more than 10 years. With support from private gifts, the Cathedral embarked on a comprehensive rehabilitation to transform the building into a contemporary religion retreat and education center. Today, the VMC provides a key venue for the Cathedral’s College of Faith and Culture, a programming arm that hosts conferences and forums on ethics, public engagement, social justice spirituality, arts, music and more. The rehabilitation restores key historic spaces such as the Chapel, Library, Lobby, Refectory and Cloisters into flexible meeting spaces while upgrading and adding guest rooms for in-residence courses and retreats.

The building’s original design posed several formidable challenges for modernization. Its floor plan was compact yet complex, a warren of small rooms and narrow hallows dispersed across 15 different levels. The design looked to integrate elevators into the historic fabric that supported improved circulation but that did not detract from the primary historic spaces and gothic details. The site’s steep grade added to the accessibility puzzle. The creative landscape design took advantage of regraded topography to provide an accessible entry and to address challenging on-site stormwater management that respects the formal grounds that were originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.

The spartan dormitory lodging and shared bathrooms on the upper floors were converted into guest rooms with private baths to serve a contemporary market. The narrow tower two-story loft suites maximize use where accessibility was difficult to overcome. To integrate modern fire protection into the historic structure, the spaces were modelled in three dimensions and discrete pathways for running sprinkler piping were found to minimize visual intrusion. A similar approach was taken for integrating mechanical/ electrical systems and lighting.