WFX Awards » Solomon Awards » Best Church Design Renovation (801+ seats)

Nominee: Lee Architects

Project: Flatirons Community Church

URL: www.leearchitects.com
          www.flatironschurch.com

Size: 2001+ seats

Date Completed: 16-Apr-11

Description:

Flatirons Community Church’s new 160,000 s.f. facility in Lafayette, Colorado accommodates the rapid growth of a large youthful congregation. The majority of the project’s square footage comes from the adaptive re-use of a vacated Wal-Mart building and a vacated Albertsons building just across the street from the church’s former location. The reclaimed buildings (known to the team as ‘Walbertsons’) were tied together by infilling a 23 foot strip of land that separated the structures. The church had desired to undertake a similar project years earlier but was told “no” by the city of Lafayette. Having no other option, the church bought land outside of town and moved forward with plans to relocate.

Six years and one recession later, the idea of turning vacant retail space into religious use became appealing to the city planners as a way to re-vitalize the declining city core and take an environmentally friendly approach to meet the church’s needs while preserving land on the outskirts of town. It didn’t hurt that neighboring retailers kept saying to the city “Don’t let them relocate!” 

The church desired a welcoming facility for people from all backgrounds to come together and experience a “me-too” attitude; a place for people to “bump into Jesus” in the context of unapologetically loud rock concert worship music and highly relevant Bible teaching. 

Lee Architects was given the task of completing the entire project (from re-zoning to opening day) in 16 months. The church wanted the building to function as a cost effective state-of-the-art venue for worship, and present an industrial feel with a minimalistic vibe. “The design team had the uncanny ability to decipher our thoughts and ideas resulting in a completed facility that reflected the imagination and dreams of our staff” said Paul Brunner, Executive Pastor.

The interiors of the two buildings were stripped of existing ceilings and finishes, exposing as much raw steel and bare concrete as possible; maintaining only enough acoustical materials and carpeted floors as necessary to control sound. The resulting aesthetic was that of a renovated industrial warehouse, exactly what the church wanted.

Having grown tired of a column littered auditorium in their previous location, the church desired a new space that was essentially column free. The design team’s solution was to demolish and raise the existing Albertson’s roof. This move created a 4,000 seat, clear span Auditorium; including 1,000 seats on a tiered balcony. 

The vacated Wal-Mart building became the lobby, offices, children’s ministry, youth center and warehouse. Eight overhead glass garage doors were cut into the existing walls to bring sunlight into the 30,000 s.f. lobby. The doors are kept open almost year-round, allowing the church’s lobby to spill out into Colorado’s mild climate.