Architectural firms are asked to do a lot more than design buildings these days. Church buildings are larger, and congregations are more sophisticated and demanding than ever before. Building permits are more complex, and zoning issues block or delay many church projects. Architects are responding, out of necessity, by offering a much wider range of services than ever before, and they have the computer technology to support it.

Christopher Kidd, president of Christopher Kidd & Associates in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, explains the impact on church architectural firms: "There is an expanding of services, including zoning and site analysis, to extensive consultation on programming—how the function of the ministry relates to building design."

Bill Chegwidden, president of CDH Partners in Marietta, Georgia, agrees. "We have become a full service firm, doing all the engineering, video animation, virtual tours," he says. "Design has gotten a lot more complex and expectations for a successful project have gotten higher and higher." His company has responded to the need for a broader scope of services by bringing more talent in-house. "We work in teams," he says, "because we want to stay ahead of the problems so we become specialists in that area."

Start Early, Stay Late
Architects are getting involved early in the planning process to help churches evaluate their need for construction before the first plan is drawn. "They used to call us when they were ready to build," says Bruce Wardell of Bruce Wardell Architects in Charlottesville, Virginia. "Now we are focusing on helping them understand whether or not they need to build. Sometimes a renovation or an addition is what they need. It's problem-solving, serving the mission of the church more than simply building a building."

Even after construction is complete, architects stay involved because they are so well equipped to deal with space utilization and maintenance issues. "In some cases for much larger churches, ongoing facility management and annual reviews of mechanical systems are part of the service we provide," says Wardell. Chegwidden meets annually with many of his clients to review their long-range strategic plans and check progress against those plans.

Architects recommend that churches begin with a master building plan, which includes much more than drawings and blueprints. The master building plan matches physical and financial resources to church service and program goals, with an eye to the future. For example, Lefler & Associates in Thousand Oaks, California, helped Christ Community Church in West Covina, California, create a master plan that incorporates an existing adjacent retail center. The retail center will be renovated and converted into classrooms, a parking garage, and a multipurpose room. In Santa Clarita, California, Lefler worked with Grace Baptist Church to create a master plan that includes a 44-acre retreat and youth center, a coffee house, information center, and a natural outdoor amphitheater.

Architectural firms like the Murphy Architectural Group in West Chester, Pennsylvania, work with their clients to understand objectives and project parameters. This understanding is the foundation of the architectural process and establishes the direction for the creative process. The results are captured in the master building plan.

The Troyer Group in Mishawaka, Indiana, conducts a multi-day, interactive, master planning workshop for their church clients. In addition to creating a master plan, the workshop also helps the church develop schematic design concepts, a schedule, and cost estimates for completing the plan.

Zoned Out
Another big change in the industry is the increasing burden of satisfying all building code requirements. Standards for handicapped accessibility, fire protection, occupancy, and other health and safety-related issues have become more stringent. "This has affected design more than anything else," says Chegwidden. "Someone in a wheelchair has to be able to get to the pulpit or anywhere else in the auditorium."

Architects are also finding that the zoning and planning review process imposed by local authorities has grown dramatically. "Churches, in many zoning ordinances, are being treated like commercial institutions, rather than community institutions," says Wardell. "That limits the areas they can go into. The costs of developing land have grown enormously and the cost of getting the jurisdictional approval for building has grown enormously."

Chegwidden says environmental codes have profoundly changed site planning and master plans. "Wetlands, stream buffers, tree planting areas—all the environmental standards are more onerous," he says.

A more widespread problem is that people are less willing to have a church built in their neighborhood. "We've had two real battles with neighbors in Atlanta that the church lost because of zoning," Chegwidden says. "[The neighbors] don't want the large church, the traffic, the noise." For that reason, Chegwidden advises his clients to get enough property and work proactively to get the proper zoning very early in your building schedule.

High-Tech Supermodels
The biggest breakthrough for architects in assisting churches with all this planning is, of course, computer technology. "Computer modeling is something that even ten years ago was just a concept," says Kidd. "Now we're able to model interior spaces and show congregations what it looks like with lighting, color changes, and more."

Wardell says that three-dimensional imaging and virtual tours of projects expand the architect's ability to describe to the client what the facilities are going to look like.

Chegwidden says they do everything on the computer now, right from the beginning design. "We can make a lot of changes, look at a lot more options," he says. "What we are doing more and more is preliminary designs with virtual tours that churches then use to raise funds for the project before we do a lot of design work. It's less money up front for the churches but more information."

Computer technology has also allowed architects to provide more accurate operating cost projections in terms of heating costs, electrical and more.

Going Two Ways
Architects agree that church architecture is diverging in two opposite trends: megachurches and smaller churches.

"There is the megachurch: the multi-use, lifestyle kind of facility where you provide for worship, weddings, dinners, school recreation," Wardell says. "They are centers of community activity, with lobbies like malls with a coffee shop and bookstores, and a sanctuary more like a theater." Wardell says these large churches are driven by a high growth strategy. Their facilities look more like shopping centers than ecclesiastical structures.

But Wardell says he's also seeing more neighborhood churches seeking to become more pedestrian-oriented. Driven by a new urbanism, they are building smaller buildings recognizable as churches. "They are clearly trying to evoke a sense of familiarity, of sacred space, of being set apart," he says.

Kidd has seen the same divergence in his practice. "I've had more and more clients specifically ask for a church designed to look like a church," he says. "There are some denominations that want the auditorium to be only a place of worship."

But at the same time, he finds projects driven by the desire for multipurpose facilities. "Few congregations will allow large spaces that serve only one function," he says. "The gymnasium is also the auditorium is also the fellowship hall. Walls move, chairs move, everything except the outside walls can be moved. It is extremely important that buildings be multifunctional."

Chegwidden says another trend is that churches are ignoring old design formulas. "I've been doing this for 25 years," he says, "and the last five have been the most exciting. A lot of what used to be givens are now open for discussion. We're allowed to be a lot more creative; in fact, churches are demanding it. It's no longer just about how many rooms we need and how cheap can we build. Rather than dropping back to old formulas, we ask, 'How do we share the message?'"

Looking Ahead
Architects see the divergence in church building trends becoming more and more clear. "I see the megachurch having the kind of success you can put on a spread sheet," says Wardell. "On the other hand, I see a lot of work is now urban work." For him, urban work means redevelopment and creative design. "You can't just buy these plans out of a book," he says.

Kidd likewise sees continuing momentum in both trends. "I think buildings will continue to be multifunctional, due to the fact that the buildings have to do so many things and ministries are always expanding," he says. "There is going to be a movement to smaller churches, but in the larger suburban markets, there will always be megachurches."

Chegwidden sees the future of church building being driven by master planning. "There has to be a master plan that has to do with site development and how that goes with the church's vision for ministry. You can't do one without the other. The vision and strategic plan have to drive the building plan or sooner or later you'll get caught, either running out of room, or quit growing, and you'll have to figure out why."

Kidd's predictions for the future of church architecture include the increasing need for communication between building committees and architects. Computer models don't do meetings or take notes. The architect must work even harder to make sure everyone understands each step. "There is an even greater responsibility for the architect to make sure the congregation understands what's being represented," he says. "We go to congregational meetings more often. And in some churches, they vote after each phase to make sure the congregation understands and approves."

In that respect, it's comforting to know that the more some things change, the more others stay the same.

Gayla R. Postma is a freelance writer living in Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada.