Interior design meets the outdoors at Rush Creek Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex; image: GFF
With 35 years of architectural design and management experience, Stephen Pickard, FAIA, NCARB, serves as principal of the Church Works Studio at GFF Architects in Dallas, and is on the leading edge of trends in church design.
Pickard is well versed in what today’s churches are looking for and regularly guides its leaders on the latest trends in the pandemic era, with an eye toward the future.
"The church market kind of went to sleep for about a year because of COVID. People are reengaging in the idea of building buildings, or renovating existing space, and we’re starting to see an increase in activity and a return to normalcy." - Stephen Pickard, FAIA, NCARB, Principal, Church Works Studio, GFF, Dallas, TX
The movement toward a hybrid model presents an opportunity for the church to physically connect with and serve the neighborhood that surrounds the church.
He also serves as the 2021 chairman for Interfaith Design, the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) Interfaith Forum on Religious Art and Architecture and is a member of the Dean’s Circle for the Texas Tech University College of Architecture Design Leadership Alliance.
Recently, Church.Design caught up with Pickard to discuss the latest in church design. Take a read.
Church.Design: How has the pandemic impacted your business?
Pickard: It was pretty hard to motivate churches to spend millions of dollars on building a new facility when the one they were sitting in was sitting empty. So, a lot of things were put on hold. Their focus in terms of resources shifted and they focused on the people who were suffering—those who had lost their jobs or were having other issues and needed assistance and spiritual direction.
We had a pretty strong backlog, and our work continued. We had some things move into construction, and we found some new opportunities. We spent a lot of time contemplating what churches were going to do in a post-COVID environment. We saw more emphasis on sanitation and social distancing.
Church.Design: How would you characterize the state of business in the church sector as we move through August and September, 2021?
Pickard: For one thing, it seems like from an opportunity standpoint that we’re starting to see more activity. The church market kind of went to sleep for about a year because of COVID. People are reengaging in the idea of building buildings, or renovating existing space, and we’re starting to see an increase in activity.
Church.Design: What are the trends you see developing, coming out of the pandemic or heading into its current new facet?
Pickard: There seems to be more of a community focus. Not that there wasn’t before, but there just seems to be more and more emphasis with churches on finding creative ways to engage the community now.
Life Fellowship Church offers ample outdoor gathering spaces. Image: GFF.
We’re working with a church here in Dallas that is developing satellite campuses, and instead of being worship-based, [they] are focused on providing needed amenities to the community—focusing on low-income areas, and they may or may not be providing worship services. There may be counseling, there may be a health and wellness component, or a culinary component that can teach people to cook healthy food.
There may be counseling, there may be a health and wellness component, or a culinary component that can teach people to cook healthy food.
Church.Design: What are you noticing from a facility standpoint?
Pickard: A lot of churches are returning from COVID wanting to refresh their existing space, but they’re not in a position to build new buildings. From an attendance standpoint, many of them still have a lot of congregants that are attending virtually. We think that’s going to continue to be a trend and will impact the worship environment—providing more of a hybrid experience.
Wade Griffith
Pickard notes a trend toward churches seeking to refresh their interior spaces. Shown here, Texas's First Baptist Church Lewisville. Image: GFF.
So, you have people that are attending services both live and virtually through streaming, and although broadcast has been around for a long time, now it requires something a little bit different from a pastor, as they didn’t necessarily have to interact with the virtual audience in broadcast. But now they need to engage both live and virtual attendees and have the technology that supports that.
Some churches are taking classrooms and converting them into rooms where they have a green screen.
Church.Design: How does the increase in technology play a role in design?
Pickard: With live streaming, the technology to support that and the infrastructure requires a certain amount of space. Some churches are taking classrooms and converting them into rooms where they have a green screen, [for example].
Church.Design: What lighting trends are you observing?
Pickard: Well, what’s most significant, I think, concerns LED—you can have natural light in an environment where you have an LED screen whereas, when you had projection, that was not really possible. The worship space was often a black box with no windows. But we’re starting to see more churches interested in the idea of bringing natural light back into the space, even if they have LED screens. I see that as a big trend with the reintroduction of more natural light into a modern worship environment.
Church.Design: What other shifts are you spotting?
Pickard: We’re seeing more interest in outdoor spaces—outdoor gathering spaces, outdoor classrooms, more of that kind of thing. This goes back to the community-focused standpoint, as more and more of these outdoor spaces are being geared towards shared community use and outreach. Again, it’s not just for serving the church, but it really becomes an opportunity for the church to physically connect with and serve the neighborhood that surrounds the church.
We’re trying to de-emphasize the mega-church model, those that are surrounded by a parking lot, and [to] create more of a connection with green spaces and recreation spaces that can physically connect the church with the community in a shared realm.
A vision for outdoor community and family gathering space in the church setting; image: GFF
Church.Design: Can you provide an example of a design that's helping a church more fully connect with the community at large?
Pickard: We’re working with a church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, which is in the Tulsa area, and they have a lot of acreage. We just developed the completed master plan for them that included lots of these outdoor community-oriented spaces—they’re doing soccer fields and outdoor family gathering spaces designed as a multi-generational space that serves the entire family.
[Editor's Note: This story was originally published in August 2021.]
