Come On In! (And Stay Awhile)
How Your Church Design Choices Affect a First-Timer’s Experience

by Douglas A. Spuler, AIA, LEED AP

Planning for the long-term growth of a church requires foresight and leadership. Growing congregations recognize a key component of their growth strategies is design aesthetics.

Good church design strategies result in attractive, effective spaces for worship, increasing opportunities for larger audiences. Attractive buildings and campuses do just that — attract!

Attractive campuses and buildings don’t necessarily need to be budget busters. The key lies in maximizing design dollars by choosing a design team that understands the underlying principles that attract people to God’s house, and that understands how good design can minimize long-term maintenance and potential future expansion costs.

A phased master plan is a smart management tool for future growth, outlining how to maximize the construction budget and incorporate design strategies that help your church grow. The concept of good aesthetics might be hard to put a price on, but if looked at as an investment in growing the congregation over time, it’s easy to understand the opportunities for a positive return.

When designed well, the site’s layout, the treatment of parking lots and landscaping, and safe, clearly defined pedestrian walkways facilitate bringing people in to worship. Intuitive parking areas and good site circulation ease potentially stressful situations.

The site provides opportunities for other unique design approaches that draw people into the church and promote a positive emotional response conducive to worship. One possibility is the inclusion of parking area speakers that bring worship music out to churchgoers. Another is the creative use of landscaping that can break up an otherwise intimidating sea of asphalt. The use of a landscaped buffer between the outside of the church and the pavement provides a sense of calmness and serenity before entering church. Leaders at a church we recently designed felt this idea of a green buffer even serves as a “green placeholder” for future additions to its building. The pastors feel it’s a reminder to their congregation that they’re “not done growing yet.”

Another potential site design approach is innovative storm-water management. By diverting storm-water runoff into a retention area and adding an inexpensive pumping mechanism and aerating fountain, it’s possible to transform what could be a civil engineering nightmare of considerable expense into a beautiful and inspiring water feature.

Fountains help highlight the power of God and nature and can be a metaphor for Christ as “Living Water.” They provide soothing white noise, attract families, and create a calming, sacred atmosphere that draws people in.

All these site considerations help provide for future growth while creating a preparatory experience of entering church, encouraging a peaceful state of mind receptive to God’s word.

There are several issues surrounding building design that can also help contribute to growth. Design for churches should go beyond treating them as mere buildings by treating them more as “home.” Good church designers realize that it’s a home that’s used not only by one family, but perhaps 500, 1,000 or even 2,000 families — or more — every week.

A welcoming home is created through design that provides a feeling of warmth, making it easy to encourage people to attend and, ideally, stay after the service for fellowship.

A design emphasis in maximum impact areas can help further connect people to God and create a greater level of consciousness about the church’s future growth. These high-impact areas provide options that make the best use of the design and construction budget, and include:

• Front doors
• Sanctuary spaces
• Atrium and fellowship spaces
• Daylighting options
• Quality exterior materials, especially in the area from the ground up to 5 feet high
• Quality interior materials, in the same general area

Design flexibility in administrative and classroom spaces might allow the budget to prioritize extra funds for the high-impact areas that are most visible, and provide the greatest return on investment.

The use of tactile elements inside and outside the building can create an emotional, although sometimes intangible, response to approaching God. Small investments in these elements can provide a huge return. For instance, a quality doorknob and/or sturdy wooden handrail can represent the stability of God’s home. Quality building materials placed in areas from the ground up to 4 or 5 feet high are important because those are the areas that people see and touch most. These are just a few examples of ways to creatively use the church’s budget to maximize impact at key areas.

Open glass atriums and lobbies show the transparency of the church’s mission and subconsciously suggest honest and integrity. Materials such as glass might even help mitigate any trepidation or hesitancy about going in to a church as a new member or guest. Creative solutions such as stacked glass storefront windows provide a cost-effective alternative to expensive glass curtain-wall products at about half the construction cost. Natural day lighting might also help mitigate energy costs.

There are many new cost-effective building materials available today, including advances in faux or cast stone that allow churches to incorporate the look and feel of the permanence of real stone at prices that might previously have only allowed uninspiring, and sometimes “cold,” stucco walls. A character of warmth can be carried from the building’s exterior to its interior by using design elements such as a stone base or plinth, which can be an allegory for “The Rock” that is the church.

Wood also helps create a warm, natural aesthetic. The use of natural wood in entry canopies or as a roof beam goes a long way to creating a more inviting and natural quality without much increase in cost. The incorporation of fireplaces can create a true sense of hearth and home and a center for church fellowship activities.

Finally, even warm, comfortable color choices for the interior paint palette will do wonders to create a space where people want to be, for no additional cost.

Encouraging and managing growth can be a challenge for any church. Make sure to get the best return on investment by including design aesthetics for growth in the planning process. Effective design-cost prioritization in key areas will ensure that budgets are maintained and aesthetics don’t suffer.

Douglas A. Spuler, AIA, LEED AP is a principal of RNL Design, an integrated full-service architectural firm with offices in Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles. Spuler, who joined the firm in 1994, leads the church/parachurch market. Reach him by calling 303.295.1717 or by e-mail at doug.spuler@rnldesign.com.