Cornerstone building is phase one of church campus

by Jonathan McGaha | January 31, 2009 12:00 am

After the congregation of Christ’s Church of the Valley outgrew its original venue, weekly services were held in a movie theater while other group events convened in the founding pastor’s home. The church’s goal of having a formal worship center led to the production of four buildings on an 18-acre (7-hectare) campus in Royersford, Pa.

Inspired by the origins of the congregation’s original venue, architectural firm Visioneering Studios, Irvine, Calif., joined Gorski Engineering Inc., Collegeville, Pa., to produce the cornerstone building whose façade intentionally resembles a movie theatre. It is equipped with an impressive A/V system for the music-driven services, bold color detailing, stained concrete flooring and clear-span space with enough floor area to seat 350 worshippers beneath a dramatic vaulted ceiling.

Eventually, this building will be converted into an early childhood facility. This will happen after the second structure, now under construction, is completed. An addition to the rear of the first building also is being constructed. The second building will serve the interim mission as the sanctuary before being adapted into a teen youth center when the third building is completed. The final project in the construction plan is the formal sanctuary that will complete the master plan.

The 9,300-square-foot (864-m2) first phase utilized a 75- by 120- by 24-foot (23- by 37- by 7-m) Widespan building system fitted with a MR-24 standing-seam metal roof system from Butler Manufacturing, Kansas City, Mo. The rear foundations were stepped down in anticipation of adding the conventional, three-story addition currently under construction in the back and in lockstep with constructing the second building.

Butler Manufacturing

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/cornerstone-building-is-phase-one-of-church-campus/

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