In the pursuit of worthy facility, what elements must come together to create a sacred space?
There are some facets that go into what makes a church building great and they all intertwined together.
It’s really the collision of form and function in an explosive manner that brings greatness.
Form can be looked at and described in many ways. I would prefer to call it design rather than form. Design in our modern vocabulary congers up ideas like beauty, inspiration and engagement.
Good design actually also includes function.
If we look at the iPhone most people would give it compliments on its design. They would say, its sleek, classy, beautiful and it works great.
Shouldn’t our church facilities be referred to in the same fashion?
In my home town is Hope College, on its campus sits Dimnent Chapel.
The beautiful Gothic structure was completed in 1929. The construction cost was $404,000 (about $5.6 million in 2016 dollars).
At the front of the 1150 seat chapel is the beautiful rose window, a gift from the Hope College Class of 1916 and constructed at a cost of $4,000, it contains three rows of petals. When the sun shines thru this magnificent work of art it is absolutely breathtaking. The tall walls and beautiful wood work gives you a feeling of awe and wonder as you sit inside and gaze around the structure.
There are two organs in the chapel, a four-manual Skinner organ in the chancel and a Dutch classic tracker organ in the balcony, built by Pels and Van Leeuwen in the Netherlands and installed in 1971. The Skinner organ with its 2,932 pipes was installed in 1929. Both organs sound fabulous in the space.
Yearly the college does a Christmas Vespers service. The program of Christmas carols and anthems features more than 200 performers. The choir with minimal acoustic instrumentation along with the Skinner organ is a thing of sure beauty.
For me the Chapel as the locals call it is a great building.
It is engaging.
Just looking at it from the outside calls you to want to enter to see what the inside is like. The soaring 108’ tower makes the approximately 175’ long by 60’ wide structure appears larger than life. Once inside all of the elements I mentioned above, particularly the stained glass windows personally draw me through their beauty closer to my creator.
It is inspiring.
Just as it is engaging, drawing you in, its beauty inspires you. The magnificence of the marble floors, the deep wood colors and colors splashed about by the sun penetrating the stained glass windows brings light and hope deep into my soul.
It’s functional.
Hosting events like a student lead chapel service that features modern music, an organ concert, a choral vespers service as well as bachelorette. The building is well used and services multiple different types of events extremely well. There have been modern elements and conveniences added to the building like Air conditioning, modern restrooms, a performance sound system along with production lighting and video screens. But all of that has added to the function and comfort of the building without taking away from the beauty of its design.
Really what it boils down to is that the experience that you have attending an event there is enhanced as you walk up to the building and then as you participate in the event that takes place inside.
Today what are we doing in our worship spaces to bring design and beauty into the facility? Think of ways, like bringing in artwork or creatively using projection and lighting that you can use to bring beauty.
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