Putting a green twist on history

MADISON, Wis. - Adding to a church is a whole new challenge when the original structure is a Frank Lloyd Wright design.

Just ask organizers of a $9.1 million addition and restoration to Madison's First Unitarian Society church. Not only did they have few examples to give them direction, but the huge undertaking required consultation with Wright experts and others.

Planners scrapped more than a dozen designs before they landed on a curved building that doesn't rival the original Meeting House, which has 60-degree triangles that show up throughout.

''So this curved building is always looking back at the historic structure and always paying respect to the historic structure, and it's also never competing ... letting that be the prominent structure on the campus,'' said project architect Vince Micha.

The First Unitarian Society commissioned Wright to design a Madison church in 1946, with the two-year construction finished in 1951 to serve a congregation of 150. By 1999, the membership grew to around 1,900. So over the next few years church officials and the congregation decided on an addition instead of splitting the congregation by adding another location.

The U-shaped campus, which is now 40,000 square feet, opened in September after 1 years of construction and restoration work. The new building increased seating from 225 to 500.

Major additions to Wright designs are rare. The tall rectangular building designed by Gwathmey Siegel and Associates takes nothing away from the architecture of Wright's curved one, said John G. Thorpe, an architect who specializes in Wright restorations.

Micha said that at first, he and the 10 or so other architects paid too much attention to figuring out how Wright would handle the addition. He even felt Wright watching over him the first time he rolled open the original drawings.

''I had a roof leak at our studio, and it dripped right on the Frank Lloyd Wright drawings. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, what is this trying to tell me?'''

They ended up incorporating Wright's theories, such as creating transparent walls to bring the outside in. They made a conscious effort not to mimic his work. Instead of using stone for some walls, they used concrete that was poured into wooden molds to get a wooden texture.

Other features include a sedum-plant roof to reduce heat and absorb rainfall, recycled and local building materials and radiant floor heating and cooling.

The design advances Wright's ideas about organic architecture and integration of buildings with their environment.