BEHRE COLUMN: Crisis Ministries' future home fits in

The new Crisis Ministries shelter, which soon will be under construction, is scheduled for completion in 2013.

The design of Crisis Ministries' new homeless shelter on upper Meeting Street must do a lot of seemingly contradictory things.

It has to provide rooms to house 110 or more people, plus offices, a dining area and treatment rooms -- all while fitting into a neighborhood of mostly small homes.

It has to appear dignified and enduring while deflecting any criticism that it's over-the-top or too ostentatious.

It has to welcome folks arriving on foot, mostly from Meeting Street, as well as those arriving by car and parking around back.

Fortunately, the design by architect Eddie Bello of McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture tackles all those goals.

Construction on the building is expected to begin shortly after an Oct. 18 ceremony that will celebrate the design and the fundraising success to date ($4.7 million, or more than two-thirds of its estimated cost, is committed). The day also is designed to drum up excitement for the final fundraising push.

Buildings for Charleston's most vulnerable populations often have resulted in some of the city's greatest architecture, from the now-gone Charleston Orphan House on Calhoun Street to the more recent scattered-site public housing.

And there's no question the new Crisis Ministries building will be a vast improvement over its current quarters, a 1950s-era Piggly Wiggly warehouse at 573 Meeting St. that had additional rooms clumsily cobbled onto the back.

Most of that building -- except for the original warehouse -- eventually will be torn down.

Bello's first challenge was figuring out how to replace it while continuing to serve the city's homeless population during construction.

Crisis Ministries gradually acquired 13 adjoining properties, some quite small, to assemble a new site between Meeting, E and C streets. Walnut Street -- which parallels Meeting -- will serve as the main entrance by car. Pedestrians will enter via a walkway from Meeting, alongside the current building.

Siting the new building in the middle of the block diminishes its competition with the series of single houses lining Meeting Street and also helps obscure how much bigger it is (30,000 square feet) than its neighbors.

Bello says the design attempts to fit into the neighborhood's residential feel with pitched roofs and several different volumes, including a dining hall that almost reads like a separate building.

In a dramatic departure from the current quarters, the new steel-frame building has tall ceilings and a lot of natural light. "We're on a budget, but that doesn't mean we can't have uplifting, great spaces," Bello says. "One of the goals in this building is wherever you are, you can see outside."

The building also will emphasize sustainability and low-energy use. Its rainwater will be recycled for irrigation, and its wall partitions will be salvaged and reused from a North Charleston office building, a project overseen by Jorge Riano of GreenBy3.

Wood and possibly other material from two modest homes that were razed to make room for the new building also will be reused in the new building.

A final challenge was to design a workable floorplan so a complex set of public and private spaces all worked together.

Currently, Crisis Ministries' dorm space doubles as a dining room, while the main conference room also serves as a hallway.

Crisis Ministries is not about warehousing the homeless but getting them the treatment and support so they get a place of their own (the average stay is about 100 days).

Stacey Denaux, Crisis Ministries executive director, notes that the building will indicate how the city takes care of its people in need.

"This building is going to make a statement," she says. "Whoever comes through its doors stands a much better chance of not being homeless."

Robert Behre may be reached at 937-5771 or by fax at 937-5579. His mailing address is 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403.