Trends in Church Architecture

It’s not mentioned in the articles, but security is now a major concern in church building design, whether in new construction or remodeling.

That’s just the way it is at the present, and particularly when it comes to children’s spaces within a building. For prospective new families, if they don’t feel comfortable dropping their kids off in their classrooms for Sunday School, many won’t. They’ll simply find another church.

We addressed our (overdue) security needs last year when we remodeled about 40% of our building, including the children’s areas on both levels. Here’s the result:

Children from the nursery to grade 4 must be checked-in electronically at one of twelve check-in terminals. A small printer at each terminal prints two stickers: one goes on the child, and the other serves as the parent’s “claim check.” Next, parents must pass through volunteer-monitored lock-down doors to enter the children’s areas, to drop off their child at his/her classroom. When children are present, the only adults allowed in the secure children’s wings are those with a need to be there: church staff, vetted volunteers/teachers, and parents either dropping off or picking up a child. “Joe Public” can’t just stroll though. When parents pick up their child(ren), they must show their “claim check” to reenter & exit the children’s areas.

In addition to implementing electronic check-in and securing the children’s areas, we also installed 32 security cameras that provide widespread coverage of the entire building, both interior & exterior. Video is digitally captured 24/7, with a 21-day retention. Some other security measures were also undertaken.

Was this a significant expense? Yes. But it’s a realistic & prudent investment. And as a large suburban church, such precautions are now simply expected by attendees & prospective attendees alike.

In addition to increased security factors being a strong trend in newer church construction/remodeling, the options for seating installed in church auditoriums/sanctuaries has undergone much change in recent years.

Not all that long ago, when a church built a new auditorium, the choice of seating usually amounted to selecting one brand of pew vs. other brands of pews. That pews would be installed was often simply a given.

Today that isn’t true. Pews are being chosen far less often in church construction projects. Three reasons are 1) cost, 2) flexibility, and 3) capacity. (Any or all of which may apply.)

Regarding cost, pews can be expensive–often more expensive than other options.

Regarding flexibility, many churches are reluctant to install fixed seating in what is usually the largest room in their building. They want the option of being able to easily convert rows of non-fixed chairs, for example, into a room full of round tables & chairs for other types of gatherings/events.

In terms of capacity, studies (and simple observation) show that pews are prone to underutilization of their stated capacity. In other words, they are subject to sprawl. Without the fixed delineation that individual, removable chairs (linking pew-chairs, folding-chairs, or whatever) or fixed, theater-style seats provide, people sitting in pews have a tendency to occupy more than their allotted 18” (or so). How? By simply not sitting as closely together as full capacity figures would require, or by setting their Bible, songbook, purse, coat, or whatever down next to them. The result in practice is that pews typically hold only 80% of their planned/stated seating capacity.

… is renovating & repurposing vacant big-box retail buildings to become churches.

Vacant big-box retail buildings have become attractive options for some churches for several reasons:

1) They sit on several acres of contiguous land that might not otherwise be available in the area.

2) They already have big parking lots.

3) Their largely open interiors are easy to reconfigure/build out.

4) They’re usually dirt cheap.

Locally, here are some churches that have done or are doing this:

Woodland Hills Church: http://whchurch.org/ (vacant Builder’s Square.)

Hosanna Lutheran Church (Shakopee campus): http://www.hosannalc.org/about/shakopee-campus/ (vacant Rainbow Foods.)

Eagle Brook Church (future Anoka campus):

http://abcnewspapers.com/2015/12/31/eagle-brook-gets-site-plan-approval-for-new-anoka-church/ (vacant Kmart.)

Is it financially responsible to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a building that is used an average of ten hours a week?

[Ron Bean]

Is it financially responsible to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a building that is used an average of ten hours a week?

The trend I was citing is that the churches that are doing this (renovating vacant big-box buildings) are spending less than they would for new, similarly-sized construction.

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Speaking for my own church, we have a large, multi-million dollar building on 18 acres that is used 7 days a week:

1. We have a daycare/preschool that serves a couple of hundred children, and is open 11.5 hours per day, Monday to Friday.

2. The church office is open Monday to Friday, with multiple pastors & staff present.

3. We have two homeschool co-ops that meet in our building during the school year; one for 1 day each week, the other for 1.5 days each week. (On the days when both are present, along with our own daycare/preschool, we’ll have 500 kids in the building at once.)

4. We have Bible studies, classes, and small groups that meet mornings, afternoons, and evenings throughout the week.

5. Wednesday nights see Bible study, AWANA (several hundred kids), and numerous other events simultaneously.

6. Weddings or funerals as scheduled.

7. A large men’s ministry meets early morning on Friday’s, year round.

8. Weekend services are on Saturday nights (1) and on Sunday mornings (3). We also meet irregularly on Sunday nights.

9. On Saturdays, there’s usually some group that’s holding some event in the building in the morning to early afternoon (prior to the service time).

10. We provide space for blood drives, food drives, and other local events, and house the precinct’s polling place during elections.

I’m not even mentioning all the meetings/events/users that utilize our building, but my point is that it’s certainly not underutilized. Who says a church building is limited to being used only 10 hours per week? Our building is open 13 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week!

[Larry Nelson]

In terms of capacity, studies (and simple observation) show that pews are prone to underutilization of their stated capacity. In other words, they are subject to sprawl. Without the fixed delineation that individual, removable chairs (linking pew-chairs, folding-chairs, or whatever) or fixed, theater-style seats provide, people sitting in pews have a tendency to occupy more than their allotted 18” (or so). How? By simply not sitting as closely together as full capacity figures would require, or by setting their Bible, songbook, purse, coat, or whatever down next to them. The result in practice is that pews typically hold only 80% of their planned/stated seating capacity.

Honestly, even with linked chairs, people do the same thing. We used linked chairs, but they are the type that essentially make a bench when linked together (i.e. it’s not uncomfortable to sit between two chairs). People don’t generally like having only 18” of width to sit in (hence the IMO deserved disdain for airline economy seating these days), because it puts one uncomfortably close to one’s neighbors. So, in all the ways you mentioned above, if the chairs are not separated slightly, people will have a tendency to spread out. It changes when enough people come to require all the seats, but unless a church is growing very quickly beyond its space, those times are usually limited to special events.

[dcbii]

Honestly, even with linked chairs, people do the same thing. We used linked chairs, but they are the type that essentially make a bench when linked together (i.e. it’s not uncomfortable to sit between two chairs). People don’t generally like having only 18” of width to sit in (hence the IMO deserved disdain for airline economy seating these days), because it puts one uncomfortably close to one’s neighbors. So, in all the ways you mentioned above, if the chairs are not separated slightly, people will have a tendency to spread out. It changes when enough people come to require all the seats, but unless a church is growing very quickly beyond its space, those times are usually limited to special events.

But it’s more obvious when folks are occupying more than one seat. We have linked chairs in our auditorium, and at some service times we now fill it to virtually 100% capacity (and spill over into a second room). Clear delineation certainly makes that easier.

We break ground in March on a larger auditorium, which will have theater-style seats. With those, one person spilling over into an adjoining seat simply will not happen (unless they can figure out how to straddle an armrest!).

[Larry Nelson]

​But it’s more obvious when folks are occupying more than one seat. We have linked chairs in our auditorium, and at some service times we now fill it to virtually 100% capacity (and spill over into a second room). Clear delineation certainly makes that easier.

We break ground in March on a larger auditorium, which will have theater-style seats. With those, one person spilling over into an adjoining seat simply will not happen (unless they can figure out how to straddle an armrest!).

It gets easier *to see* when people are spreading out on linked chairs, but it doesn’t noticeably change the behavior. A few years ago, we had enough people attending for a while to fill every seat in the auditorium as well as use an overflow room. People didn’t try to take more than one seat in those instances, and in fact some squeezed in more people than the number of chairs. I did notice, though, that people were quick to stake out an aisle seat, and those that were really wanting to preserve their space simply went straight to the overflow room before the auditorium was even full.

Yes, I would imagine that theater seats will be very effective in keeping people from using more than one seat! However, I’ve noticed in places where the seats are theater-style and very tight, unless the room is close to full, people will choose to sit further back to preserve some empty seats between groups if possible. Americans just have a larger idea of personal space than I have observed in the other countries I have visited, and they will try to maintain it unless forced not to.

[dcbii]

People didn’t try to take more than one seat in those instances, and in fact some squeezed in more people than the number of chairs.

When we are full, or nearly so, I’ve seen instances (for example) where 2 parents and their 3 kids will sit on 4 chairs.

Some random thoughts of my own.

• Massed chairs can be really uncomfortable for people who are bigger. Convenient, cost effective, yes, but keep bigger people in mind. Pews are more forgiving in this regard.
• If you’ve got a nice facility, consider a day school or daycare—and keep in mind child safety and the visibility of children’s facilities. (there’s Ron’s capital utilization point)
• One difficulty with older facillities is a lot of load bearing walls—those building new facilities would do well to consider spending a bit more to get trusses for more flexibility in rearranging areas.
• Consider planting a new church instead of additions—getting around a church (like older hospitals) gets really clumsy when you add on a few times. It puts the pressure on to develop young pastors, too.
• Churches with multiple additions can be nightmares in terms of child safety, too. New hallways disrupt the lines of sight.

As it relates to the discussion of seating types & capacities above, I just happened to be on the Hampton Park Baptist Church (Greenville, SC) website this morning, and ran across this:

5. Is the proposed seating capacity the same, lower, or greater? How many seats are we losing
exactly?
• Strictly speaking on paper, we would be sacrificing some seating capacity, but this number is
hard to define accurately. Current seating capacity is calculated in our pews by assuming a person
takes of a certain amount of inches. In reality, because there are no defined seats, people tend to
sit farther apart, thus the “person per inches” calculation is not very accurate.
• When theater seating is used, people actually tend to sit closer because the seating has
a defined space.

http://www.hamptonpark.org/filerequest/2245.pdf

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This document also discusses the change:

http://www.hamptonpark.org/filerequest/2275.pdf

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Reading through the documents, this church is right now in the process of replacing their pews with theater-style seating.