Assembly House 150, as Maher is retitling the former church, will house classroom space for students, a gallery and studio where artists and tradespeople will collaborate on architectural and artistic projects and a for-profit design and building studio that will help foster a new crop of buildings in the city.

The repair of the building also will be central to Maher’s project.

The immediate issue facing the project is the repair of the church’s slate roof, a project Maher is undertaking with the help of contractor Chris Ziolkowski, who worked with him during his Albright-Knox residency. Beyond that, Maher characterized the water damage as largely cosmetic and said it is likely to remain exposed as evidence of how the building has changed over time.

“If you look at that, you might say wow, that looks really challenging to repair,” Maher said. “I would respond, that's a cosmetic thing, and it doesn't even need to be repaired as much as it needs to be exposed, shored up, attended to, in ways that aren't necessarily the ways we would approach development projects.”