BAPS Temple

BAPS had acquired an old office building that was the original home to the Arbitron Radio Rating Company. The two-story facility was built in several phases. The space was extremely unsuitable for the temple use as a worship facility. This assignment upgrades almost the entire facility starting with properly re-classfying the building as an A-3 use under the IBC. To create a large worship space, the rear half of the concrete precast roof structure is being removed and replaced with a steel frame system with 24′ clear height and a 90′ clear span that will provide an appropriate main worship space.

Hindu temples do not have any fixed or movable seating. Our architect worked closely with the county, to help them to understand the occupancy loads that drive parking, restroom and ventilation requirements at the temple. Exterior expansion possibilities were very restricted to stay under the 5,000 SF limit to avoid costly redevelopment SWM. When complete the BAPS Community in Beltsville will have a facility appropriate for their faith-based use.

• Adaptive Reuse