Tucked back at the end of a short lane off Elm Street on the Common, the recently completed Fellowship Building is welcoming and unimposing, as visitors can see for themselves at an open house Saturday morning from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The new Fellowship Building stands recently completed. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

The first sight of the one-story, brown clapboard building with broad, white trim suggests an appealing, traditionally-built community building, but closer inspection reveals that traditional, it isn’t. Little, if anything, of the building is not without conscious purpose and environmentally-aware design. And if the new Fellowship Building reflects the values of the Harvard Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation, it is intentional.

The old Fellowship Building, a mid-century modern building at the same location, was built in 1959 to accommodate the church’s growing religious education program and its desire for more congregational and community gathering space.

Several years ago it became apparent that the social and meeting space was inadequate and that the religious education program had once again outgrown its space. But an investigation found the old building too unsound to be cost effectively repaired and renovated.

During a year of meetings and discussions, visions of a new building began to form. “Experiences in the early meetings inspired personal commitment,” says church member Susie Macrae.

What emerged from the brainstorming sessions was more than a desire for more Sunday school classroom space and quieter meeting rooms. The congregation wanted a building that would facilitate, enhance, and reflect the church’s mission and values. Three priorities surfaced that defined the project. The new building would accommodate church needs for education, meetings, social gathering, spiritual growth, and celebrating significant life events. It would offer greater potential for programs for the larger town community. And it would be environmentally responsible.

The first two priorities for church and community influenced the floor plan and the feel of the building. The new rooms—an open entry, a large hall, a general meeting room, four classrooms, an office, and a kitchen—are spacious, comfortable, and, in contrast to the old building, quiet. The third priority, a commitment to green building, led most of the design and implementation decisions that followed.

There was an early decision to adopt LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) principles and process.

“LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system,” said Mark Kelley in a recent interview. Kelley is a nationally recognized authority on building energy efficiency and sustainable construction, who volunteered his expertise to the project.

“Some of the principles that are important are related to what’s known as whole building integrated design, starting with our workshops to define the goals for the project, then tracking through the process with feedback from computer models of the design—testing assumptions and potential features,” he explained. “The interaction between the components of the building, its envelope, equipment, the HVAC systems, and the environment is especially important for reduced energy and resource use.”

Kelley described some important aspects of the building. A superior building envelope is insulated all around, including the walls, roof, and under the floor. The tight envelope requires a much smaller heating system than usual. Heat recovery ventilation increases ventilation when more people are in the building but reduces the ventilation—and subsequent heat loss—when the building is sparsely occupied.

Passive cooling is facilitated by natural ventilation through the high awning windows in the large hall.

Efficient windows allow very low heat loss or summer heat gain. Although the new building has less glass than the 1950s-style picture windows of the old building, the rooms seem light-filled. Shelves on the outside that protrude from the top of the windows reflect light deeper into the rooms and offer some shading during the long, high-sun days of the warmer months.

Daylight harvesting controls dim the lights when there is ample daylight. Occupancy sensors turn lights off when the room is unoccupied, while light sensors control the intensity of high-efficiency lights relative to the amount of daylight coming in.

“We gave a lot of attention to sound,” said building committee chairman Glenn Frederick. Meetings in the new parlor room will no longer be punctuated with full-throated grunts from karate students, nor morning meditation shared with junior choir practice.

The Fellowship Building design also looked to durability and low maintenance. The factory-finished fiber-cement clapboards have a 50-year guarantee. The white trim also has a long-lasting factory finish.

Outside, the lane and expanded parking lot are covered with environmentally-friendly crushed stone that lets rain penetrate to the subsoil and avoids asphalt paving. Special parking areas are reserved for high-occupancy or low-emission vehicles.

Commonalities emerge when talking to Unitarians involved in this project. Everyone this reporter talked to mentioned the commitment to green consciousness and creating a green building. When fundraising fell short of allowing all of the congregation’s vision, the congregation compromised on space, not environmental stewardship. Each is proud of what the church has accomplished. Challenges along the way strengthened rather than weakened commitments to the project.

During the process, Rev. Wendy Bell reminded the congregation that “This is a chance to leave a legacy here in Harvard that will outlive us and which will stand for what we stand for long after we’re no longer standing.”