Project Details:
- Completion date: August 2021
- Addition: 3,100 sq. ft., Renovation: 6,090 sq. ft.
- Approximate project cost: $1.8 million
- Updated 250-seat worship venue with new furniture, finishes, AVL, and overhead garage doors for overflow into lobby.
- New open lobby and café space, with overhead garage doors that connect to new children's ministry space.
- New family room that connects to worship venue for extra seating, and doubles as a conference room or additional office space.
- Children's ministry addition features classrooms, large group spaces—all connected with glass walls and doors for maximum visual clarity and flexibility
- Lobby and family restrooms refreshed
- Landscaping package, exterior lighting, and signage
An Adaptable Design for a Compact Space:
Chapelstreet Church, in North Aurora, Illinois, is the fourth campus for this multisite family of churches, all of which we’ve been called in to partner with. For the addition and renovation of this compact building and site, our goal was to create an efficient design so the spaces could be adapted to have more than one function.
Designed during the pandemic, we considered the question, “What will the Church look like in five years?” Our design team answered with a clean, open layout that utilizes every space intentionally. Wayfinding was key, so the use of glass, overhead garage doors, and a natural traffic pattern was incorporated, leaving people in no doubt of how to navigate the space. Furniture and technology was designed to be flexible and adaptable for Chapelstreet’s growing and changing ministries.
The original building opened to a confined, cluttered hallway—not an ideal lobby for connecting and building relationships. The new lobby space is now open and spacious with strategic zones of seating, giving people comfortable places to relax and build relationships.
Creating a Campus for Connection:
The light and bright 250 seat worship venue includes a set of glass garage doors connecting to the lobby space, while another set of doors connect to a family room space. Both spaces serve as overflow and add the flexibility of 50 more seats.
The new children’s ministry space was designed for maximum flexibility. Overhead glass garage doors flank the space, which allows the classrooms to double as additional lobby space, or extend on the other side to the large-group space. This multipurpose space has movable, flexible furniture so it can be rearranged for different activities during the week.
The openness and use of glass throughout the facility instills a sense of confidence in the space, and delivers a message that, “we’re together and we’re connected”—a winning concept for a compact space.
The ultimate win of the project is the innovation of a flexible, adaptable facility that will give Chapelstreet North Aurora space that impacts ministry and draws people closer to Jesus!
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