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2015/12/07 00:00:00

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The Gathering

Church

Featured

Written By

Peter Schwartz

The Gathering was one of the first newly constructed church buildings built within the St. Louis city limits in decades.

Thoughtful functionality and flexibility are key to this church design—the worship space can be configured to accommodate either a morning worship service or an evening community event. The central Gathering Space allows for milling about amongst a large group, or stepping off into a seating nook for an intimate conversation. The children’s wing is sized to handle a growing and changing ministry.

Steel columns, beams, and trusses partially salvaged from a previous structure on the site were refinished and manipulated by a local artist into an iconic cross at the site entrance—a modern twist on a wayfinding church steeple.

A bold skin of multi-colored metal panels wraps the children’s wing and intersects with the glass volume of the main entrance and central Gathering Space. Simple forms and crisp corners allow the materials to complement the design without overcomplicating it. The building exterior employs a material palette of wood, glass and metal, simply composed and accented with vibrant color.

A sculptural glass installation—hand-blown by the congregants themselves and visible through the entire common Gathering Space—pays homage to the colors and materials of the stained glass found in the church’s prior home. Another nod to the church’s history is a reinterpreted representation of the cross from the prior site.

The 600 seat sanctuary features a state-of-the-art LED wall, sound system and theatrical lighting for flexibility in creating the ideal worship experience.