Image: Alex Wong
Danae Doughterty, architect and managing principal with Visioneeing Studios, suggests this strategy for churches and those who design them, moving into the future. "Rather than trying to socially distance yourself in one space, maximize your square footage. If you have alternative venues like a chapel, or worship center, then you can spread out your congregation so that not everyone is packed into one small space."
During this time of renewed stay-at-home orders and non-essential business closures, the local church has become more outward-facing, moving out beyond the walls of its facility. Moving forward from the impact of COVID-19, church facility design will be impacted, as well.
Church.Design tapped into expert advice from Visioneering Studios, Santa Ana, Calif., for insight into design elements that will offer solutions in a post-pandemic world.
Ryan Hubbard, strategic designer with Visioneering Studios, notes one of the most significant changes his firm is anticipating. “We’ll see a new awareness and appreciation of place and community. In the past, we took community and the ability to gather for granted. Now that we’ve all experienced social distancing, there will be a new sense of togetherness and a renewed emphasis on designing to build community and launch vision, not just within a church’s walls but also out into the surrounding community.”
Resolved to sustain the power of their online impact, church leaders are now scrambling to find permanent and visible dedicated studio space to house their online campuses.
The usual design suspects
Gathering a community comes with precautions in a post-COVID world. The obvious additions to every church community, according Visioneering’s designers, will be the addition of abundant sanitizing stations and masks for volunteers. Churches will be utilizing as many touch-free systems as possible, such as touch-free communion that can be self-service, offerings taken at fixed stations, online bulletins, doors on hold-opens or with kick plates, as well as automatic doors, touch-free sinks and toilets.
Danae Dougherty, Visioneering Studios managing principal is an award-winning architect. She also teaches architecture and is one of Visioneering’s most sought after designers. Dougherty encourages churches to consider alternative venues for services. “Rather than trying to socially distance yourself in one space, maximize your square footage. If you have alternative venues like a chapel, or worship center, then you can spread out your congregation so that not everyone is packed into one small space. It’s a way to maintain social distance and utilize your entire campus.”
Trends beyond the walls
According to Dave Milam, the company's vice president of strategic design, there are specific design trends emerging for the church environment which were initiated by the arrival of the global pandemic. “After a solid overdose of quarantine screen time, COVID-19 has produced a national renaissance of the outdoor play. Public parks that were once empty are now filled with family picnics and people throwing a frisbee. Churches hoping to fuel ministry beyond the walls are beginning to leverage dormant land to create engaging outdoor community environments and parks," he notes.
“Creating an outdoor space is the lowest cost with the highest impact. Cost per square foot is a fraction of what it takes to rebuild an interior space. And it will materially change the look, feel, and use of the entire campus." Danae Dougherty, Architect and Managing Principal, Visioneering Studios, Santa Ana, CA
“Creating an outdoor space is the lowest cost with the highest impact,” says Doughterty. “Cost per square foot is a fraction of what it takes to rebuild an interior space. And it will materially change the look, feel, and use of the entire campus. “Many churches are leveraging what they already have. Being outdoors provides natural ventilation, healthier air, and more room to spread out. Churches are creating exterior experience by adding outdoor porches, extending rooflines, building outdoor trellises, and setting up outdoor furniture. So now they are holding a lot of large group gatherings outside.”
Kids' play environments
The onset of COVID-19 has brought the dilemma of offering safe, engaging, and sanitary play spaces. “One of the most seismic changes in church design will be with the kids' play environments,” says Milam. “In the near future, moms and dads will cautiously restrain their kiddos from the colorful COVID-infected, Petri-dish playscape." Instead, churches and their designers are expected to opt for creative play environments that are easy to keep clean and sanitize.
“We’re actively having conversations of what to do with these indoor play spaces in light of COVID-19," Dougherty adds. “There are plenty of churches who are in this situation, whether they have outdoor or indoor play spaces. Churches have to realize the level of care required now for an area like this in a post COVID-19 world. This may mean daily sanitation, or weekly power washing if it’s outside. So those are things that will need to be discussed when approaching the idea of kids spaces.”
Online campus space
With the arrival of COVID-19, “In a matter of days, we witnessed churches across the nation stack their auditorium seats and transform their worship centers into full-scale sound stages. Overnight, the Church expanded her digital presence and the need for 'dedicated studio space' was born,” says Milam.
Resolved to sustain the power of their online impact, church leaders are now scrambling to find permanent and visible dedicated studio space to house their online campuses. “It just wouldn't make sense to tuck away expensive camera gear in some back closet that once stored the mop bucket. In the post-COVID season, you'll start to see glassed-in online studios attached to church lobbies as a strategy to keep the church's digital presence front and center,” Milam envisions.
