Christ Church Phase II

Client

Christ Church

Location

Mequon, Wisconsin

Size

35,000 SF

Completed

2019

Christ Church engaged Ramlow/Stein and Concord Development Company with a vision to expand their 26,000 square-foot church to better serve their rapidly growing congregation.  A 35,000 square-foot addition and a complete renovation of the Children’s Ministry was required to support Christ Church’s unique approach to its worship, offering congregants the opportunity to partake in a multi-venue worship experience.

The new addition features a large, central social gathering area with a rooftop clerestory.  This space serves as the new Main Street, connecting the former lobby to the new addition.  A reimagined ‘Christ Perks’ Café prominently positioned at the crossroads between old and new space provides a comfortable dining and community gathering destination.  The expansive Main Street connects several worship venues, meeting spaces, restrooms, connecting stair to the second floor and offers a straightforward approach to wayfinding.

Christ Church now has three distinct venues for worship.  Auditorium West seats 400 and was renovated to include a projection system and sound system.  Auditorium East seats 500 with soft seating and state of the art audio-visual systems.  Both Auditoriums East and West have the technology for Christ Church to employ a “virtual pastor” system.  A 150 seat Chapel was designed with a more traditional worship experience in mind.   A Broadcast / Control Room was created to support these spaces and enable Christ Church to live-stream worship in all venues simultaneously.  To complement these additional worship venues, four breakout spaces were created for educational sessions or smaller group worship.  Administrative offices, Green Room, and back of house storage space was built to support the needs of the growing staff.  HVAC systems were designed with acoustics in mind, utilizing a displacement ventilation system in the main social gathering space and rooftop units located away from worship venues.

A plan for an additional venue space was incorporated as well, to allow the utmost in future flexibility as this enthusiastic congregation continues to thrive and grow.