Sheffield Family Life Center
Kansas City, Missouri

Project Type: New Construction
Seat Count: 2,750
Opening: June 2001
Construction Cost: $18 million
Architect: Mantel & Teter Archtiects
General Contractor: Winn-Senter Construction
A/V Installation: Harvest Productions
AD Scope: Auditorium Design, Acoustics,
Audio Systems, Video Projection & Theatrical
Lighting

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When Sheffield Family Life Center began plans for its new sanctuary, there was no discussion about moving to the suburbs. The Assembly of God church knew they were going to stay put and build right where they were—in the heart of downtown Kansas City.

The new sanctuary is not typical to an urban area, but then, neither is the 6,000-member multiracial church. Church volunteers feed the homeless on the streets and conduct other outreach ministries, including those to singles, gays, street prostitutes, prisoners and gang members. About 500 youths from 50 area schools come to the Wednesday youth meetings. The new $18 million structure is simply equal to the investment that the church has in the surrounding community.

The 70,000-square-foot worship center seats 2,750 and was designed specifically to meet the program priorities of its unique congregation. A skywalk attaches the worship center to a 60,000 square foot education building, which consists of a 400-seat chapel, classrooms and offices.

The site constraints had a profound impact on the shaping of the main sanctuary. When AD joined the design team, the working design was a large fan shaped room with a constant radius. This met the church's desired seat count within the site limitations, but the acoustical difficulties of the wide fan-shaped room caused AD to step in with a modified shape for the auditorium.

The balcony design was borrowed from performing arts facilities. Visually, it appears that there are three levels; however, in reality there is one balcony and a raised terrace of seating. The vertical discontinuity of the raised seating level allowed the control booth to be integrated seamlessly into the design.

Services at Sheffield Family Life Center are very participatory and generate a great deal of warmth and emotion. The two upper levels are well connected to the floor giving people in the balconies access to the platform without having to leave the room. This supports the invitational time, which was a high priority for the church. The balcony also draws the congregation close to the platform, which creates a connection with the platform.

Thick masonry walls were chosen for the Auditorium. The solid walls contribute to the warmth and bass response of the room with the added benefit of preventing the street noise from intruding on the room. Sound reflective surfaces were chosen for under the seating area to support audible community during worship.

Pastor Fel Bagunu, the senior associate pastor leads worship with a group of praise singers. There is a full band and orchestra on the platform, and the 125-member choir is staged on retractable risers. In general, the direction given to AD was to provide a design for a medium power, full range sound system. The design includes three discrete clusters in a center, left, right configuration, at a height of approximately 32' above the stage level.

Every December, the church stages a full-scale production of Tribulation Christmas. The production draws up to 10,000 annually. The success of the evangelistic production made it a priority in the planning of the design. AD designed the stage with walls that were moveable to give full wing access. The choir risers are retractable with a curtain to hide them when they are drawn back. This built-in flexibility allows the church to restage for the production in just under two hours.

The catwalk and dimmer systems were designed large enough to accommodate special productions. To save money, additional fixtures are rented for the annual use rather than being kept as a part of the regular inventory. The regular light plot fixture count was enough for a complete stage wash and specials as required.

Rear screen video projection is used at Sheffield for image-magnification video, sermon and worship support. There are two Stewart 18' x 13'6" Lumiflex screens-one on each side of the platform. The screens were carefully integrated into the overall design of the auditorium to ensure clean sightlines.

The pastor of Sheffield Family Life Center, George Westlake, hosts the weekly television show, Living Answers for Today. Over the course of the history of the show, the church has purchased an extensive inventory of broadcast equipment. The design for the broadcast studios integrated the existing equipment into the new facility.