Harrisburg Institute Community Life
The site was abandoned, rundown and dilapidated. It was nothing more than a forgotten warehouse in a downtown neighborhood of Harrisburg. It was on the periphery, waiting once again to be used to its capacity.
Now with the rehab complete, the building is be the perfect location for Messiah College’s Harrisburg Institute. Gutted, creatively designed and beautifully redone, the building provides student housing, classroom, lounge and office space.
It also stands, though, as symbol of revitalization, transforming from weary walls to a revived center for student activity. As students prepare for service and learning within its walls, the building will gently whisper to students and passersby alike, to remember the forgotten, marginalized, and oppressed.
This newly restored facility goes hand-in-hand with the Institute’s vision to restore, recharge and infuse with new life its surrounding areas in Harrisburg and the rest of the world.
When S.A.L.T. residents in Harrisburg invite adults with special needs over for dinner, or volunteer to till the land of a vacant lot so neighborhood children can plant flowers, or help Harrisburg youth record their stories into creative expressions of poetry and dance, the buildingwill smile. It will smile because it is an encouragement to all not to look at things (buildings, people, or even a world) as they are in their current state, but to see things as they could be; what they could become.
The S.A.L.T. House invites students to step in and participate in the work of seeing with new eyes the world’s potential.
Click below for the building floor plans
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