On Friday October 5, 2018, the Department of Fine & Performing Arts and the Pool Art Center Gallery held an opening reception featuring works by our very own, Skyler Phelps and Brian Rathsam, along with other Drury University Alumni. Below are a few photos from the event.
Our team recently had the chance to get together for a team building event at Top Golf, in Overland Park, KS. We had a great time and appreciated the golf pro who was available for some quick pointers to improve our swing. Although some of us didn’t need any pointers, particularly Skyler!
Believing in what cannot be seen is a fact of life in religion. It’s also the case when it comes to acoustics, where sound interacting with the broadly variable geometry of church architecture can create anything from a heavenly aural penumbra around music to an echoic jumble around the spoken word.
In the past, knowing which way it was going to turn out was often as much a gamble as it was a sure thing. However, house-of-worship AV systems consultants and specifiers are increasingly turning to acoustical consultants and technology to help them know what a new or renovated church’s sonic future might hold.
Their tools are room-simulation and acoustical-evaluation software such as CATT-Acoustic, Odeon and EASERA. The platforms have been in use for about a decade, but their use has become much more widespread in the last several years, applied to a wider range of projects and venues, including more and more often, houses of worship.
Home Church - located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, recently selected the design-build team of Dallas, Texas based contractor Goff Companies and Kansas City, Missouri based architect Mantel Teter to assist this church in their relocation to an existing vacant retail big-box. Immediate facility needs include an expandable worship space, atrium/lobby, children’s ministry space, student ministry space, and space for offices. "Our team is excited to partner with Goff Companies and Home Church to design renovated facilities to further this church’s mission." stated David Evans, President of Mantel Teter and Principal for the project.
UNLEASH: RELEASING THE GOSPEL POTENTIAL OF YOUR CHURCH
The purpose of the event is to develop Great Commission momentum in your church. Your team will experience the foundations of Intentional GrowthPlanning and leave with a clear vision and action plan to double your Kingdom impact.
The workshop will be led by an experienced Intentional Churches facilitator alongside two additional Intentional Churches coaches who assist during the event. The facilitators and coaches use Intentional GrowthPlanning to grow their church and coach and train other churches to do the same.
This has to be my most frequently asked question during a design process with our clients… “how can we keep our building from looking dated in 10, 15, 20 years”? My first response is always “you can’t.” Design trends come and go. What is popular today may not be tomorrow. Unfortunately, for most of our clients, the ability and funds to change their space like owners of hospitality spaces do, is not possible. They cannot switch carpet and countertops every five years. So, the trick is to find little ways to maximize not only the money spent, but the years in which our products will last. The good news for our clients is that there are several ways we can achieve a “timeless” look and beat those fleeting design trends.
1. Stay as neutral as possible with your most expensive and longest lasting materials. For example, don’t pick red carpet, blue countertops or overly trendy-looking tile. Instead, let your paint and accent colors be the trend. Green is very in right now. Paint a wall or two in your lobby green and the rest can stay very neutral. Paint is easy and inexpensive to change, especially if it’s just one wall.
Grace Community Church - located in Smithville, Missouri, recently broke ground and construction is underway for their new kid’s classroom expansion, while also renovating the lobby and kid’s check-in of the existing building. “The entire team is excited to be under construction & we’re anxious to witness the great things this new space will do for the church’s ministries.” commented Skyler Phelps, the Project Architect. Pearce Construction is serving as the general contractor.
Lord of Hosts Church - located in Omaha, Nebraska, is under construction and are renovating acquired space for a second video venue and entry gathering space. An exterior façade renovation to this existing retail building is also underway. "This project has been transformational as new life is reborn into an old retail building.” commented Brian Rathsam, the Project Architect for the project. The church also selected local general contractor, Lund-Ross Constructors.
Fellowship of Grace, located in Parkville, Missouri, recently broke ground and construction is underway for their new entry/atrium space for gatherings & connection, while also renovating most of the existing building. “The church is very excited to be under construction & we’re looking forward to the great things this new space will do for its ministry.” commented Brian Rathsam, the Project Architect. Pearce Construction is serving as the general contractor.
Mill Creek Community Church, located in Shawnee, Kansas, recently broke ground and construction is underway for their new children’s ministry building and entry/atrium, while also renovating most of the existing lobby space where the buildings connect. Check out the latest drone flyover from Pearce Construction.
Vineyard Church, located in Kansas City, Missouri, north of the river, has begun construction with Pearce Construction. The church will be adding a new two-story children’s ministry building adjacent to their existing Lobby and 1,000 seat Auditorium. The project is expected to be completed near the end of 2018. Check out the latest drone flyover from Pearce Construction.
When Gladstone, Mo.-based Antioch Bible Baptist Church found itself with not enough room to properly support its children’s ministry, it called upon Kansas City’s own Mantel Teter to design a new 27,000-square-foot addition to accommodate their needs.
Pearce Construction built the new building, which contains a cutting-edge children’s worship space with AVL design by Stark Raving Solutions, on the church’s campus.
The two-story building, completed this spring, now supports nursery and preschool all the way up to 5th grade age groups in classrooms of various sizes.
Construction is underway at Vineyard Church. Check out the progress in this drone video from Pearce Construction.
Architecture throughout time has always been a field of communication. As architects and designers, we are constantly communicating our perceptions and sharing our ideas with others. When we share our ideas with other architects and designers alike, we speak the same language, and rely on our drawings to be a translator when something isn’t clear. Our experiences in school and years of practice often assist us in seeing the iterations and progression of a project. However, those without an architecture background may not necessarily speak that same creative language. Whether it be clients or family members asking about your work, sometimes our drawings or renderings can’t fully express the experience we are trying to evoke.
Behind every great project, there is a great team. Every design and construction project is unique, with a variety of services required to transform generalized concepts into reality. Like basketball teammates passing the ball to one another to find the best shot, each teammate plays a specific, meaningful role. To win, each team member must communicate effectively, exhibit strong leadership skills, be creative and precise.
Construction at Mill Creek has begun. Check out this video from Pearce Construction!
Mantel Teter takes the plunge into the realm of virtual reality.
Some are challenged to visualize what a facility will look like or what a spatial experience will feel like from looking at 2-D drawings, simple 3-D images or even computer generated fly-throughs. These computer-generated images are, in many ways, an updated version of the hand-drawn renderings of the past. Virtual reality takes the client experience during the design phase to a whole new level.
Building the right space at the right time is the ultimate goal of every church building project. Once a church has tracked attendance information over time, it can make an informed decision about the amount of space needed for ministry expansion. Armed with this hard data, you’re ready to consider what kind of space to build.
Click here for three tips regarding how much space to build.
The sense of arrival. Psychologically, it symbolizes the completion of a journey. Excitement is present when a destination is achieved and the experience of what lies ahead is in store. Upon arrival to a church facility, people process through a series of motions as the experience of arrival is achieved. Together, site and building work to complete the sense of arrival and enrich the experience.
Click here for FIVE things to consider when contemplating how to create or improve this experience.
Most of us have "enjoyed" the experience of making multiple trips to the hardware store when attempting to install what often seems to be the simplest of tasks. After this task consumes most of the day, including all kinds of time that was not planned, we rock back and ask ourselves, "why didn't I just hire a professional?".
The amateur in the scenario above most likely just spent twice or more in time and money, than if a professional would have been hired. This reminds me of a quote from the famous oil well firefighter, Paul "Red" Adair. He would tell folks, "If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional……wait until you hire an amateur!". Candidly, he's right.
