Fusion Bible Church

Project summary provided by submitting company.

Before the design and construction of their own church building, the congregation of the Fusion Bible Church in Durant, Oklahoma were having church services at a local school. Their new tilt wall building that has the ability to hold larger services, education, child care, youth, and other events for their growing congregation. The spatial requirements for the building included a sanctuary, children’s area, youth area, a kitchen, and lobby. One design parameter was that the building avoid conspicuous iconography related to traditional church buildings. This would give the building a feel of being a welcoming community fellowship space.

The Architects on the project realized that the best way to achieve this non-traditional church look was to use tilt wall for construction, as this would be an economical option, for its load-bearing and acoustical qualities. The goal to a welcoming atmosphere was partially achieved by using warm colored textured coating on all forty panels with some panels featuring formliner as a design element. This design was consistent throughout on the interior as well. The common areas were located in the center of the building with the sanctuary off to the one side of the building and the children’s are on the opposite side of the lobby. The children’s area utilized tilt walls due to its durability to handle just about anything a child can throw at it.

Given that this project was built to be used for worship and fellowship purposes, its biggest success will be the impact it will have on the community in Durant. They are working their way to hosting community wide events, but are currently hosting events for the congregation to participate in. By using the tilt wall, they now have a space that has the capacity to grow with them as they work towards having a bigger impact on the community in Durant, Oklahoma. The budget and schedule was tracked throughout design, thus the phased approach to construction. Phase 1 included the youth area to be utilized as the sanctuary. Phase 2 will be the construction of the main sanctuary.