Project Data
- Location
- Unity Village, MO
- Size
- 33,000 square feet
- Year Completed
- 2024
- Type
- Conference Center, Hospitality, Event Center, Non-Profit
- Collaborators
- Hoss and Brown (mep), PMA (structural)
- Contractor
- Pearce Construction
- Photography
- Michael Robinson
The R.D. Goppert Center at Unity Village is a 33,000-square-foot event and conference facility serving guests on the Unity Village campus. The project involves a complete exterior and interior restoration—including the building envelope and systems—while creating a fully accessible, inclusive, and inviting experience.
The restoration honors the materials, detailing, and scale of the original building, which was designed in a classical-modern style typical of many performance halls of its era. Many existing materials were refinished rather than replaced to reduce waste and minimize the need for new construction materials.
Extensive interior and exterior improvements now provide accessibility to all levels of the building. A series of exterior and interior ramps were added to enable barrier-free entry to the main entrances, restrooms, and every level of the stepped auditorium.
New restrooms were added to the core of the first floor, increasing capacity and improving circulation from the auditorium.
The auditorium floor was transformed from a sloped performance-hall layout with fixed seating into level terraces with flexible seating, allowing Unity Village to host a wider variety of events and increase revenue.