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Lutheran Church of Hope - Ankeny

A place of sanctuary and connection within a rapidly expanding contextual environment

Information

Location Ankeny, Iowa
Size 32,000 SF
Completion 2015
Services Architecture
Project Type Religious

Lutheran Church of Hope-Ankeny is the suburban satellite campus of a large Evangelical Lutheran Church in the heart of Iowa. The church is a place of sanctuary and connection within a rapidly expanding contextual environment composed of mixed-use development along an arterial street connecting multiple neighborhoods. As phase one of development for a fast-growing congregation, the programmatic functions include a 700-seat flexible worship space, a gathering space, 24/7 chapel, coffee shop, nursery, offices, and educational facilities. In addition, the ministry provides a kitchen and food pantry function for those in need within the larger community. To support this new satellite congregation, the structure creates a setting for connection, community and sanctuary.

Impact + Innovation

The volumes of the Lutheran Church of Hope-Ankeny are contained within a simple rectangular footprint wrapped by smooth, white concrete walls. The elegant form sits in stark contrast to the earth tone sided and shingled environment of its surrounding suburb. The 24/7 chapel anchors the structure to the site, reaching upward with a symbolic cross. The wall of the main gathering space, which grows from the chapel form, gradually increases in porosity to provide views to and from the worship environment. Within the worship space, folded wall surfaces continue to wrap space and volume and culminate in a glass cross that is revealed through light. These porous walls will always remain the primary focus, serving as an organizing device to inform facility growth over time. The twenty-acre site is developed with low-maintenance native vegetation and a pond to manage storm water for the larger series of residential and commercial lots surrounding it. Over time, a prayer walk and a memorial grove of trees will surround the pond.

Process

Phase II
With a fast-growing congregation, the church facility needed to grow alongside its community balanced with financial capacity. The original facility creates a core structure for expansion in two directions. A significantly larger worship space is planned to be built to the southeast with education / multi-purposes spaces to the northwest. Given the congregation’s growth, both additions were needed, but only one could be afforded. Thus, the strategy for the project was to create a multi-purpose addition to the northwest which would provide opportunities for gathering, connection, smaller / concurrent worship, education, and celebration with a much larger worship space planned as a future endeavor.

The development of phase two aimed to build off the diagram established in phase one. Anchoring the structure to the site, the centrally located chapel reaches upward with a symbolic cross, and reaches outwards, with walls that establish the southern face of the original main gathering space. This wall and gathering space are extended to the west in the addition creating a clear and functional flow. The simple rectilinear volumes of the original facility are contained within a series of smooth, precast concrete walls wrapping and forming space. These walls serve as an organizing device throughout both phases informing the enclosure of spaces and framing views out to the landscape beyond. Within the multi-purpose phase two addition, white fabric surfaces fold overhead to hold space. Framing the podium a series of backlit surfaces are layered to reveal a cross revealed through light as a complement to the original facility.

People

Team

Client

Lutheran Church of Hope

We were impressed with what the architect could do with a small budget in creating very compelling spaces and an overall project that seemed like a really great community asset.”

“[The project is a] real accomplished use of materials and taking these very industrial materials and ennobling them in certain way to bring it up to an institutional level.”

“Very restrained and elegant project.

AIA Kansas City Jury Comments, 2015

[The project’s] commitment to contrast, light and dark, and texture with daylight, make each move matter — each window, each slot, each bend, curve, fold or slit in the chapel, so carefully done. Sparse interiors, streamlined palette, and exposed bones of the building keep one aware of simple things. This is a religious, timeless place. Clear expansion plan will only amplify the power of the diagram.

AIA Central States Jury Comments, 2016

This project is a fine example of creative architects’ skill of doing much with little – delivering a skillful composition with clear, straightforward detailing that elevates its modest palette of materials and suburban site. The inventive manner in which light is introduced into the tower and the sanctuary is surprising and powerful. The design presents for us an inventive merging of common building components, systems and textures – all controlled by a sophisticated compositional eye.

AIA Kansas Jury Comments, 2016