Using recycled polyester cloth, fluorescent lighting and bits of old chestnut wood, a Millvale convent transformed an aging 100-year-old dining room into an earth-friendly eatery.

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Sister Elizabeth Bauer, left, and Sister Kevin Brand, share a table in the renovated dining room at the Sisters of St. Francis motherhouse. Click photo for larger image.

The Sisters of St. Francis of Millvale were able to cut back on electricity bills and help a few aging nuns hear better in the process with a $500,000 reconstruction of its motherhouse cafeteria.

Workers installed low-voltage, long-life fluorescent bulbs and brought more outside light into the previously dim room by replacing its tinted cathedral-style windows with clear glass. Polyester cloth applied over perforated board helped cut back on loud reverberating noise.

The Sisters of St. Francis motherhouse sits atop Mount Alvernia in Millvale and presides over 27 acres. The 105-year-old convent has 208 rooms and serves 100 nuns, the oldest of whom is 96.

The use of recycled, low-cost and energy-saving materials was in keeping with the order's tradition of serving humanity.

Prior to the reconstruction, the 5,000-square-foot room had an aging ceiling that was blackened by fumes from the adjoining kitchen and had only six overhead lights.

The windows that surrounded the hall were large, but their amber-stained glass added to the grim demeanor of the room.

"You had no sense of the weather outside or what time of day it was," said Cherie Moshier, a partner at Moshier Studio, the architecture firm that led the remodeling project.

Everyday for the four months of construction, from January until May, these small, fragile, soft-spoken women would pack themselves close to a makeshift door, peeking into the room. As workers completed the transformation of this formerly dank, dingy and dark grand room, the sisters watched every step.

"It took the superintendent of construction some time to get used to having an audience," Moshier said.

Now, the room has a cloth ceiling made of recycled material that reflects light from the eight new panes of clear glass.

Added soundproofing was welcomed by Sister Elise Renk, who has always had trouble hearing in the dining hall. The sounds of silverware in the hall always rang louder than table conversations.

"I always had to say 'excuse me?' or 'what did you say?' " said Renk, who wears a hearing aid. "At lunch time I didn't have to say it once."

The chestnut blight that spread across the nation in the early 1900s has eliminated the American chestnuts that supplied the wood that lines the expanse of the house and is used in its doors and cabinets. But, because of the diligence of a crafty maintenance man, extra doors and wood remain from previous remodeling efforts. That secondhand wood was used to make several new fixtures in the dining room.

Sister Wilma Eibeck can hardly speak about the construction without staring in amazement at the work accomplished.

"They changed something not beautiful into something amazing," she said.