Located in downtown Boston, the St. Cecelia’s courtyard sits a half-story below the first-floor elevation and serves as the street level introduction to the program expansion inside the church. Due to the church’s renovation of its basement with a new pavilion entrance, the courtyard, which formally served as the main basement entrance, has become a private gathering and small event space. While still providing a means of egress, the courtyard design creates a restful woodland grove partially sunken below street level, making use of the urban church’s limited outdoor space. The sunken courtyard serves as secondary outdoor programming to the new cafe, soup kitchen, and classrooms for Berklee College of Music and parish services.