On February 29th, 2012, an early morning tornado killed seven residents of Harrisburg, Illinois, and destroyed 143 homes and several businesses. Preliminarily listed by the National Weather Service as an FE4, the tornado had wind speeds topping at 180 mph.
The Golden Circle Senior Wellness Center was completely destroyed in the storm. Along with the loss of records, photos of local veterans, and pool tables, the senior food program, serving 80 lunches from the Center's dining room and preparing an additional 120 lunches for the local Meals on Wheels program, was crippled. During the past several months, Golden Circle has temporarily moved their operations to the Dorrisville Baptist Church while they arrange funding to rebuild.
On August 11, 2012, volunteers from Architecture for Humanity Chicago met with George Cain, the architect of record for the Golden Circle Senior Center reconstruction, and representatives from the Center. The purpose of the charrette and Architecture for Humanity Chicago's involvement was to document the vision for the new Golden Circle Senior Wellness Center through renderings and diagrams. The final project deliverable, a visioning booklet, contains the results of that meeting.
This booklet will also be handed over to George Cain, AIA, of Crawford, Murphy, and Tilly, the architect of record, to be used as a reference of the charrette and discussions with Golden Circle during his creation of construction documents. Download the Visioning Booklet (PDF, 2.9Mb)
Left: April 2012 assessment of Harrisburg damage, image by Bill Gnech; Right: August 11 Visioning Charrette with Golden Circle
Floor plan and program
Left: Perspective alternative; Right: Entrance alternative and donor wall
