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Project name
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Home -
Project Type
Faith-Based -
Location
Holland, MI (map) -
Completed
Summer '09 -
Building Area
7,400 sq. ft. -
General Contractor
GDK Construction -
Delivery Method
construction manager
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Home
We were deeply moved by your interest in worshiping with us, in order to better understand our needs and the climate we generate in worship, learning, and fellowship. We appreciated your willingness to help us build consensus, your sensitivity to the design implications of our theology, your firm's capacity to blend function and beauty, and your sense of humor. I can't begin to tell you how often I am struck by the simple beauty and functionality and harmony of the building you've given us. [AMDG] has assembled a delightful group of people to work with. This project means more to our congregation than you can know.
Jim Foster, Pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
http://www.goodshepherdhollandmi.com/index.htm
A Place to Call Home
A small Lutheran Congregation that had been worshipping in a rented school space earnestly desired a building of their own. More specifically, they sought to worship in their own sacred space.
Organization of the site plan, floor plan, building massing, and exterior color scheme are intended to reinforce the hierarchy of the sacred space relative to the fellowship and support areas. Massing remains intentionally simple. The highest interior volume above the altar is expressed as the tallest exterior mass, which punctuates the site as a strong vertical element oriented toward the intersection of the two rural routes that border the site. Due to the openness of the site and surrounding area, the distinctly rendered exterior masses are visible at a distance as one approaches the building.
The context of local agricultural architecture and the constraints of a tight budget yielded an exterior material expression of board and batten, which itself becomes a texture rendered by the sun.
Natural light illuminates the interior space above the altar, including the altar and liturgical furniture that were custom-designed and built by members of the congregation.
Site planning anticipates future expansion of the fellowship and educational areas, provides outdoor gathering space for annual events such as Octoberfest, and accommodates the constraints of a septic field which could only be located in one position due to existing soil conditions.
