Religious Spaces

Religious Spaces

THE PRACTICE OF BNIM

Religious Spaces

Religious facilities serve as places of connection, community, prayer, and sanctuary for many. BNIM has worked with our clients and their communities to envision, design, or restore their religious spaces, creating welcoming and supportive environments for people to gather in prayer, fellowship, education, reflection, and celebration.

Westport Presbyterian Church

KANSAS CITY, MO

Constructed in 1905, Westport Presbyterian Church stood as a symbol of fellowship and community. In 2011, a catastrophic fire destroyed a majority of its roof, interior structure, and finishes, leaving only the exterior limestone shell. In reverence to the church’s rich history, this project restores the most significant portion of the structure — the original sanctuary and tower. The addition creates a stronger presence in Westport, while acknowledging the tradition and history of the Church and community. The building houses a sanctuary, chapel, gathering space, fellowship room, multipurpose room, and office space.

27,000 SF

Completion in 2016

AWARDS

2017 CAPSTONE AWARD, ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN Kansas City Business Journal

2017 IIDA MID-AMERICA DESIGN AWARDS Judge’s Choice

2017 IIDA MID-AMERICA DESIGN AWARDS Gold Award, Renovation/Restoration

2017 ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS OF AMERICA ALLIANT BUILD AMERICA AWARD Renovation Under $10M

2016 ENR MIDWEST Best Project, Cultural/Worship

2016 AIA KANSAS CITY Citation Award, Excellence in Architecture

2016 AIA KANSAS Merit Award, Excellence in Preservation / Adaptive Reuse

Lutheran Church of Hope

ANKENY, IOWA

Lutheran Church of Hope is the suburban satellite campus of a large Evangelical Lutheran Church in the heart of Iowa. The church is a place of sanctuary and connection within a rapidly expanding contextual environment composed of mixed-use development along an arterial street connecting multiple neighborhoods. The simple, white precast concrete form sits in stark contrast to the earth tone sided and shingled environment of the surrounding suburb.

Completed in 2015 95,888 SF

The 24/7 chapel anchors the structure to the site, reaching upward with a symbolic cross, and reaching outward with a wall that forms the southern face of the main gathering space. The gathering wall, which grows from the chapel form, gradually increases in porosity to provide views to and from the worship environment. These porous walls will always remain the primary

focus, serving as an organizing device to inform facility growth over time. The volumes of the church are contained within a simple rectangular footprint wrapped by smooth, white concrete walls. Within the worship space, white interior folded wall surfaces continue to wrap space and volume and culminate in a glass cross that is revealed through light.

The twenty-acre site is developed with low-maintenance native vegetation and a pond to manage storm water for the larger series of residential and commercial lots surrounding it. Over time, a prayer walk and a memorial grove of trees will surround the pond.

As phase one of development for a fast-growing congregation, the programmatic functions include a 700-seat flexible worship space, a gathering space, 24/7 chapel, coffee shop, nursery, offices, and educational facilities. In addition, the ministry provides a kitchen and food pantry function for those in need within the larger community. To support this new satellite congregation, the structure creates a setting for connection, community and sanctuary.

AWARDS

AIA KANSAS

Merit Award, Excellence in Architecture

2016

AIA CENTRAL STATES REGION

Honor Award, Excellence in Architecture

2016

AIA KANSAS CITY

Honor Award

2015

AIA IOWA

Excellence in Design, Honor Award

2015

Leawood Presbyterian Church

LEAWOOD, MISSOURI

To support the mission and needs of its congregation, Leawood Presbyterian Church determined the need for an addition and renovation of its existing campus buildings. BNIM is working with Leawood Presbyterian Church to transform the site to establish enhanced, harmonious connectivity between existing and new structures while providing a beautiful and inspiring context for the church and its surrounding community. The design will include a new lens that rises from the existing roof, emphasizing natural light and views for the main entry; renovation of both the Sanctuary and Education wing; expansion of gathering areas; and additional classrooms and multi-purpose spaces to serve Church’s congregation.

17,500 SF

Congregation Beth Shalom

OVERLAND PARK, KS

BNIM, in partnership with Preston Scott Cohen, was enlisted to help design a renovation and new addition for Congregation Beth Shalom in Overland Park, Kansas. Founded in 1915 with temporary lodging at 31st and Charlotte streets, the organization has occupied a series of properties on the Missouri and Kansas sides of the state line, reflecting the growth and migration of the Jewish community in the Kansas City area. The new space will be an 18,100 SF addition to and 1,300 SF renovation of their current site. The project’s primary focus is creating a sacred space to serve the Congregation. The project will include: a sanctuary with seating for up to 500; a library minyan or chapel space to serve smaller gatherings and focused study of the Torah; a flexible lobby for fellowship before and after services; a reception space for community celebrations; a Kosher kitchen for daily meal preparation and special events; and an outdoor amenity space.

The collaboration of BNIM and Preston Scott Cohen is focused on creating sacred space by utilizing form, materiality, aesthetics, sustainability and building systems to create extraordinary spiritual experiences. The architecture is designed to be peaceful and humanistic in order to remove the stresses of daily life and to nurture Jewish traditions and services. In doing so, the structure will be resilient and durable facing the unknown challenges that climate change presents. (There is a synergistic relationship between sacred space and environmental responsibility and sustainability.) The design incorporates the building mass; high performance exterior envelope; daylighting and tunable LED electric lighting; quiet high performance heating and cooling systems; and other sustainable strategies to create a beautiful, timeless environment to serve generations of congregants.

The conceptual architectural design establishes a strong link to historic Polish synagogue design, destroyed in World War II, as historical precedent, with interior organization centered on the Torah ark — a receptacle or ornamental closet which contains each synagogue’s Torah. The design envisions expression of the Torah scrolls; curved walls defining the sanctuary’s interior and exterior will promote a feeling of being enveloped by the Torah within the sacred space. Daylight will illuminate the sanctuary interior directly and indirectly, with exterior views supporting the notion of Jewish prayer as a tradition that is open to the world. High performance building envelope and mechanical system strategies will be supplemented by on-site renewable energy systems and an existing lighting retrofit to target Net Zero or positive performance for the addition. Integrated site design strategies include: on-site storm water biofiltration via bio-retention zones and pervious paving in expanded parking areas; native landscaped areas that define the entry and grounds; and planted green edges that enclose the Sukkah, Memorial Garden, and an existing playground.

Lutheran Church of Hope - Johnston Grimes GRIMES, IOWA

Lutheran Church of Hope – Grimes is a satellite facility of a large, multi-campus Evangelical Lutheran Church in the heart of Iowa. The 21,150 square-foot building serves as a community and worship center for a fast-growing congregation within an expanding rural community.

Completed in 2018 95,888 SF

SITE

The site is part of a larger planned residential and commercial development focused on walkability and community. The site topography, configuration, and orientation afforded the building to be placed near the center of the site and be oriented toward a regional storm water pond stocked with fish, an informal outdoor worship space, and community vehicular round-a-bout. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic flow around the southern and western boundaries allowing the building to be viewed from a distance as a humble form nestled into the earth. Worshippers and visitors approach and enter the building from a modest one story “porch” on the east and have views to the site and pond from the interior.

BUILDING

The building is shaped with two simple volumes. The darker worship form is crafted with a hand-made texture of clay tiles and serves as the vessel where larger worship and education functions reside. The lower single-story white, metal clad-form serves as a support bar to the larger worship form and creates a warm “front porch” with the incorporation of cedar and a cantilevered protective overhang. The cross stands as a third element in the composition marking the entrance and balancing the building composition. Gathering spaces, educational facilities, and a flexible 400-seat worship space enable residents to grow and connect within the life of the church and the surrounding community.

AWARDS

AIA KANSAS

Honor Award, Architectural Project 2019

AIA IOWA

Honor Award 2019

AIA KANSAS CITY

Merit Award 2019

THE CHICAGO ATHENAEUM: MUSEUM OF ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN & THE EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR ARCHITECTURE ART AMERICAN ART Architecture Award

Jacob’s Well Addition and Renovation

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

BNIM has been honored to design an addition to the existing building with Jacob’s Well, a thriving creative church community located in the heart of midtown Kansas City, Missouri. The beloved existing building, constructed in 1930 by Roanoke Presbyterian Church, was not designed for the current congregation and today’s accessibility standards. To better support the mission of the church, the design acknowledges the need for more diverse spaces to serve three themes: hospitality, spiritual formation, and community engagement.

7,615 SF

Completed in 2018

In collaboration with church leadership, the design team has worked to provide more gathering space for the community while upgrading accessibility deficiencies at the existing building. The addition includes a fellowship hall, where the congregation can meet before and after Sunday gatherings, provide educational space for various programs, and host special functions such as rehearsal dinners. It also provides flexible working and meeting space, and a space dedicated to youth education. The addition is connected to the existing building by a glass-enclosed link that allows for visual connection between two courtyard landscapes: an informal playground and a more formal contemplative space. Direct access to the link also provides at-grade wheelchair accessibility direct to an elevator that provides new access to all three levels of the existing building and addition.

The massing of the new addition sensitively relate to the residential scale of the surrounding neighborhood while creating a better connection to the community in which it resides. The setbacks from both Wyoming and Genessee Streets respect the proximity of the nextdoor neighbors to the south by placing the new addition adjacent to backyards rather than the homes. The shingled slate siding and other materials are reflective of the residential setting and take detailing cues from the existing church building. Direct access to the The fellowship hall opens up to a public exterior patio space and vegetated amphitheater, creating a new welcoming front door to the church. Accommodations for a future roof garden and terrace will provide an opportunity for outdoor staff break area and small gatherings. The community garden to the east has been relocated and more formalized in raised beds along 42nd Street. New plantings across the site reflect the mature neighborhood tree-lined streets and offer buffers for parking and other activity for the immediate neighbors.

AWARDS

AIA KANSAS CITY

Honor, Architecture Small, Design Excellence 2018

AIA KANSAS

Honor Award, Excellence in Design 2018

AIA CENTRAL STATES Citation, Design 2018