Carlisle Evangelical Free Church

The CEFC had a humble beginning, holding worship services first in spaces borrowed from a senior center and then moving to a pre-engineered facility. When it finally came time to build a new facility to accommodate their growing congregation, the church knew they didn't want a metal building, but metal seemed to be the only solution that would meet their budget.

Working together in an integrated project delivery (IPD) approach, however, SAA Architecture, LLC and Bay Contracting immediately decided that tilt-up was the answer. Tilt-up construction delivered a worship center that provided CEFC with more seating and stayed within the church's schedule and budget requirements. Solid concrete mass panels also allow for a very quiet structure, which is necessary as the worship center is located adjacent to the Carlisle Airport. Tilt-up construction provided architectural flexibility, too, as CEFC desired a theater seating format design that facilitated first rate audio and video systems.

To accommodate this and to reduce the building height, a 90-foot-long truss girder was run across the center of the structure to cut the roof span. Wall panel sizes (the tallest panel was 33 feet tall by 6 inches deep and the heaviest panel weighed 64,380 pounds) were minimized to reduce crane requirements and provide more design opportunities. To enhance the exterior aesthetics, various width panels were overlapped which allowed the horizontal components to take second place to the vertical. This effect was further enhanced with color and EFIS overlay. The concrete panels accepted the area of EFIS overlay seamlessly.