Elementary programs require zones for small group activities and large common areas for gathering, while older students will feel most comfortable with their own independent territory.
“Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.” — Garrison Keillor
From the tiniest nursery dwellers through high school students, our youth are core members of our worship centers. Children may not be signing up for committees, filling the pews at the morning services, and running the annual stewardship campaign, but their energy is vital—and their potential is limitless. If we want them to feel like the valued members of the worship community that they are, how do we create places that make them want to come to our worship centers, and make them want to come back?
We begin by acknowledging that our spaces for education should feel very different from our spaces for worship. Worship spaces might be designed to inspire awe and its attendant solemnity, while education spaces oftentimes encourage engagement. Ideally, spaces for education should accommodate a full range of learning modes, from boisterous activities to contemplative guided learning. These spaces should also feel welcoming, comfortable and secure.
Diverse-needs design
Designing for the needs of diverse ages and activities provides both challenges and design opportunities. Nurseries should be calm and soothing, with well-planned circulation areas for arrivals and departures. Preschoolers need large, flexible classrooms with a central gathering space for whole-group time; these classrooms should be durable enough to withstand a fair amount of age-appropriate chaos. Elementary programs require zones for small group activities and large common areas for gathering. Older students will feel most comfortable with their own independent territory, with room for small-group discussions, structured educational sessions, and plenty of space for socializing.
Worship spaces might be designed to inspire awe and its attendant solemnity, while education spaces oftentimes encourage engagement.
None of these places should feel like an institutional school. Today’s trends for education spaces in worship facilities are oftentime heavy on technology and multisensory engagement. Adding kinesthetic elements to the design entices people of all ages to enter and engage, while kid-height elements such as special windows or small-scale furnishings let smaller worshippers know that they’ve entered a zone created just for them. Bright colors and unique forms offer a low-tech method for defining and drawing people into a space. Check-in stations that provide a secure point of entry and exit offer opportunities to create a welcoming, vibrant first impression. The secure entry also contributes to a sense of safety, which is no less important to parents attending worship services than it is to their children.
Crafting engagement
Megan Bowles, AIA, an architect with architecture firm LS3P’s Raleigh, N.C., office, has firsthand experience in designing engaging spaces. In a project for Summit Church in Durham, N.C., the design team and client coordinated with theming consultants Worlds of Wow of Argyle, Texas, to create an airport-themed educational space, complete with a model biplane hanging from the ceiling. The airport reinforces the idea of going forth on a mission, a metaphor that kids experience throughout the space and at every stage of the educational journey. Bowles notes that maintaining this unified theme for all ages was a high design priority for the client. “Summit stresses the importance of creating a space that has a unique identity for each age group, while still connecting it to the church’s overall ministry,” she explains. “This strategy supports diversity while also creating a sense of unity.”
Engaging airport details support the travel theme from the check-in station all the way to the exit. Bright red digital airport “boarding pass” kiosks welcome families to the Summit Kids zone in a large area that allows informal gathering and conversation next to a wall-sized map of the world. Corrugated aluminum accent walls and industrial wooden truss elements work with a bright palette of lime green, turquoise, and orange to help with wayfinding, defining zones for different age groups. Carpet squares, vibrant accent walls, painted cabinet panels, and coordinating furniture for each area helps to unify individual rooms. Flight-related murals appropriate to each age group line walls and gathering areas, and an auditorium equipped with large screens and a stage mimics a departure lounge for large-group activities.
Bowles concludes, “The design was founded on Summit’s core values, and the message is presented in a way that makes it accessible and engaging for all ages.”
[Editor's note: This piece was originally published in 2017.]
