The Tenacre Foundation is a long-standing Princeton institution serving as a spiritual retreat for Christian Scientists, while also providing classes, nursing services, and temporary housing.
This work focused on a portion of the site where the Foundation’s most historic buildings are located, at the western end of an oval walking path connecting this area to recent construction.
In collaboration with Wolf Architects of Boston, MA, a plan was developed to reclaim some of the historic architecture’s lost glory, in part by reestablishing access to the site from the south, as was intended by the original design. Additions and renovations breathe new life into existing buildings, evolving them to accommodate the Foundation’s changing programmatic needs.
Viridian Landscape Studio of Philadelphia, PA, was tasked with envisioning a new central courtyard that redefines the space between these historic buildings. Finally, a proposed fully new building speaks to both the old and the new by linking this area of the site to the adjacent oval. At the same time, it would make both open areas more relatable to a human scale.