Striking A Balance: Architecture and Technology

A phased, adaptive re-use church project maintains design consistency and incorporates technology throughout. The early 2020s project also features design elements of particular relevance for today.

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For their first six years together, the members of Watermark Community Church gathered first in each other’s living rooms, and then, as membership grew, in hotel ballrooms and high school auditoriums. The church’s continued growth mandated the need for a permanent home, which in 2003, Watermark’s leadership found in the form of a 13-acre plot of land next to Interstate 635 in Dallas. Thus began a three-phase design and construction effort that would produce two auditoriums, a chapel, youth and children’s facilities, a multipurpose space, numerous classrooms, and a multitude of gathering spaces. Over the course of more than 10 years, Watermark’s leadership worked with Omniplan, a local architectural firm, as well as Idibri, an Addison, Texas-based consultancy focusing on acoustics, theatrical design, and audio, video, and lighting, to bring this project to fruition. The design of the master plan and the architecture was a collaborative effort between the church itself, the architect, and the AVL team.

Sustainability Redefined

Watermark’s newly purchased site housed an eight-story, 150,000-square-foot office tower that the church originally believed it would tear down in favor of building entirely new facilities from the ground up. But Scott Hall, AIA, principal and director of design at Omniplan, recounts that it was during master planning that this decision was reversed. “We started studying the value, the virtues, and the stewardship of doing that and proved that you could get a lot more bang for your buck if you kept that structure and allocated program space that could go into a tower,” he explains. “It was a little bit of a risk—they didn’t quite know what a church would look like in an eight-story office building.” Once the firm began programming the spaces, however, it proved that utilizing the existing building would, indeed, work very well. Because it’s an urban site, building adequate parking space would normally be a challenge, however, Watermark addressed this through reciprocal agreements with its commercial neighbors: on Sundays, and during special events, the church has access to its neighbors’ parking, and their neighbors’ patrons may park at Watermark when necessary.   

The first phase of the project focused on the office tower, transforming it into a facility that could accommodate preschoolers, youth ministries, and meeting spaces for the adult members of Watermark’s congregation. Phase II centered on the construction of a building that would house a 2,100-seat auditorium, a lobby, a coffee shop, as well as a number of gathering spaces—all linked to the tower via a sky bridge. The auditorium was to serve as an interim worship space, allowing the church’s members to congregate on their new property rather than continuing to meet in a high school. As such, Omniplan’s design accounted for the fact that this 65,000-square-foot space would eventually house children’s education facilities on a permanent basis.

Hall explains that the church considered a number of temporary structural solutions, such as tents and metal buildings, to house this interim worship space, “[but] they didn’t feel like that was good stewardship,” he says. Instead Omniplan designed a tilt-up concrete panel structure, which proved more cost-effective and, of course, solid. It was also designed and built with its future programming in mind: “We built the interim worship building with the intent that at some point in the future it was going to be converted to a children’s building, and so we put a parallel design effort into designing the children’s building while we were designing the [interim] auditorium.” Very little would be required for this transformation, other than the insertion of a second floor without having to raise the roof or modify the structure. The materials for Phase II construction were all regionally supplied, or they were products comprised of significantly recycled content. In addition to the tilt-wall concrete structure with steel framing, the building is outfitted with Tectum ceiling panels, Glu-Lam beams, Low-E glazing, and high-efficiency mechanical systems.

“We oriented the building toward the greenbelt so that the building itself could shelter the outdoor activities from the freeway.” 

—SCOTT HALL, AIA, Principal & Director of Design, Omniplan, Dallas, TX

Phase III of Omniplan’s master plan incorporated the construction of a 3,500-seat worship center, the transformation of the interim worship space into a permanent children’s facility, as well as the design and construction of a 500-seat multipurpose space (known as “The Loft”), and a 350-seat chapel on the upper level. 

All of these facilities, as well as those modified and constructed during Phases I and II, focus on a 20,000-square-foot “town square” that is used for community gatherings, social events, kids’ carnivals, and even small trade shows. The retrofitted children’s center features 60 classrooms outfitted with adjustable partitions, giving the church some added flexibility depending on how large the classes are. This space also houses a 15-room nursery, as well as an adaptable multipurpose space on the building’s second level, which Watermark uses for speaking events, social activities, and worship.

Focused Technology Use

Addison, Texas-based Idibri worked closely with both the church and Omniplan. The company was charged with designing the acoustics and audio, video, and theatrical lighting systems for the auditoriums and the chapel, as well as for the meeting and education spaces. Robert Rose, LEED AP, senior consultant and vice president at Idibri, explains that this involved a balancing act between architecture and technology. “There is a very strong architectural statement and a very strong Watermark theme that carries through all of the rooms,” he says. “One of the things we worked very closely on with the architect was: how do we allow them to continue to express that through the architecture, but at the same time make the room work well acoustically, or for technology? Because sometimes, those are in direct conflict.” 

For example, in the chapel—while it is still equipped with technology—the architecture weighs heavier. The same is true of The Loft. In the main worship center, however, video projection plays more of a primary role, extending the color palette on the platform onto the sidewalls to create mood. “Those were all very deliberate decisions that were made by the entire team,” Rose emphasizes.

Another technological consideration focused on users. Because much of the audio, video, and lighting systems are run by volunteers with differing levels of tech savviness, who often circulate between spaces depending on where they’re needed, Idibri wanted to ensure that there was a consistency to the systems. The audio consoles in the main spaces are all Avid Venue models, with the smaller spaces using Midas M32 and Midas Venice consoles. The lighting consoles for the larger spaces are all by MA Lighting, with PC-based GrandMA software on touchscreen computers in the smaller rooms. “It might not be the exact same piece of equipment, but we wanted the operators to have a fairly similar experience as they moved from, say, the multipurpose room to one of the other venues,” Rose explains.

Phase III Site Considerations

While one side of Watermark’s property faces the Interstate, the other overlooks a greenbelt, and Hall explains that the latter played a primary role in how both the architects and the church decided to orient the Phase III construction. “We oriented the building toward the greenbelt so that the building itself could shelter the outdoor activities from the freeway,” he explains. This decision was somewhat unique: many churches would prioritize being seen. 

“It was a strategic decision on the part of the church because obviously churches want visibility, and they want people to know they’re there, and they want to draw membership. [But] Watermark decided very specifically that it wasn’t going to be about quantity; it was going to be about quality. They felt that if they built a quality environment that was sensitive to creating spaces that would encourage long-lasting bonds and connections and loyalty, that could serve them, in the long term, better than having the front door facing the freeway so that the people driving by noticed them.”

That’s not to say that Watermark is about shuttering itself from the outside world. With its floor-to-ceiling window systems the town center lobby offers views of the greenbelt, creating a connection between the interior and the outdoors. The high ceilings and airy, open design gives one a sense of space, while at the same time the interior color palette—featuring masculine earth tones and basic materials such as wood and brick— invites one to cocoon. There’s even a fireplace that very much conjures up the feeling of hearth and home. While the Watermark buildings are focused on the town center, the town center itself overlooks a man-made pond, designed and built with several purposes in mind. Not only is it pleasing to the eye, it also helps to mitigate some of the noise coming from the freeway with its constant trickle of water. On a normal day, the pond is 18 inches deep, which means it doesn’t need to be fenced in, as per city code. But thanks to a trapdoor system, the pond can be made deeper so that people can wade into it up to their waists for baptismal ceremonies.

For Hall, what made his experience working with Watermark special was the challenge of fulfilling the church’s vision. “They didn’t come to us and say, ‘We want a church.’ They said, ‘This is what we’re about. This is the goal.’ As a designer, that’s pretty exciting,” he says. And, while it was a long project divided up into several phases, there is fluidity to the end result. “Architecturally, I think the way that all the parts work together is successful. There’s no one part that’s more significant than the other. It’s all very well connected.”

[Editor's note: This piece was originally published in February 2017.]

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