Trinity United Methodist Church
Homewood, Alabama
By Frances Putman

Trinity United Methodist Church has been a fixture in Homewood, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, since it was first built in the 1940s. The brick and stone structure has experienced many additions and renovations over the years, but space has always been a premium, as the church is landlocked in an established residential neighborhood.

As an older church in a sought-after community, Trinity has a diverse membership, including older people, many of whom have been members for a number of years, as well as young families with children. In trying to meet the needs of all populations, some areas had been neglected.

When church leaders first approached the firm of TurnerBatson Architects in Birmingham, they wanted to develop a master plan to get a total view of the building facilities and to plan for growth over the years ahead.

This was more of a challenge than it might seem, since the church has limited space on which to spread out and grow.

“If you have 30 or 40 acres to work with, it’s like starting with a clean slate. Whatever you come up with can be okay,” said Rick Batson, chief executive officer of TurnerBatson. “In this case, it was like fitting together pieces of a puzzle. Every square foot was important.”

With many children involved in church activities, as well as a thriving daycare and Mom’s Day Out program and a weekday educational ministry for children with special needs, making sure the church’s children’s area was up-to-date was an important consideration. This was the top priority for the first phase of additions and renovations.

“Originally, we had in mind to add a second floor over the family life center and gym,” said Ann Neptune, business administrator at Trinity First United Methodist Church. “But, structurally, that building was not able to support the second floor.”

Instead, they decided to demolish a section of the church that had been in operation for more than 50 years, adding a new space and renovating a large section of the church around the new addition.

“When the church was designed more than 50 years ago, there were few spaces to get together for fellowship,” Batson noted.

The trend today is toward larger gathering spaces, and that was a goal of the new addition. The old section on a corner of the church facility was removed, and a new, 36,000-square-foot addition put in its place. Another 50,000 square feet around the new addition was renovated as well. The new, two-story addition will be capable of handling a third floor for future expansion.

Visitors to the new children’s area arrive through a covered entrance. Inside is a gathering space decorated like Noah’s Ark, with blue and green tile on the walls, representing water and land. A front portion of an ark protrudes from the wall. Planks line the walls in the ark area. Knowing that children can be tough on their surroundings, durable materials were chosen for this area, including the wall tiles and carpet tiles for the floors.

“With carpet tiles, if a section is damaged, it can be replaced without re-carpeting the entire area,” Batson said.

Security was a strong consideration for the children’s area, especially because of the weekday education programs. Only those who know the correct code for the keypad can enter the building unassisted. Others must be let in by church staff.

“We added a surveillance system for the safety of the children and the teachers,” Neptune added. “We also added lots of windows, so you can look into the children’s rooms, and teachers can see into each other’s rooms.”

The Child Development Center at Trinity is now at full capacity, and more space has meant that more families can be served.

For the youth area, church leaders were looking for something very high-tech in nature. There are video games contained in cages and a café with tall, café tables where fountain drinks and snacks are served.

“Their gathering space is set up as a theater, where bands can perform and they can have skits,” Batson said. “There is excellent audio-visual equipment and the capability to receive satellite transmissions.”

The youth area, which tends to be more loud and boisterous than other worship areas, is located at the opposite end of the church from the traditional worship space.

A new choir space was constructed just below the narthex, with stairs leading conveniently up from its downstairs location to the worship space. The new choir area is very similar, acoustically, to the worship space, which is helpful to the choir in rehearsing for performances.

The parlor, which had been virtually hidden in a basement area, was moved to a more prominent position near the worship center. It is now a popular spot for receptions and new member orientations, as well as meetings and classes.

“The parlor went from being an unused location to right into the mainstream of the life of the church,” Batson said.

In situations like this where space is tight, it is important, he added, to get as much use as possible out of every available space.

As the church is located in a residential community, it was important that the latest addition fit in with the existing church structure and neighborhood. Instead of presenting a solid brick wall, the new structure has lots of windows and even a turret. The masonry, brick and stone exterior, highlighted with wooden truss elements in entryways and drive-in areas, blends well with the rest of the building and with the surrounding homes.

The new addition and renovations at Trinity United Methodist Church are obviously attractive and more functional for church members, but there has been an added benefit.

“It truly has allowed the church to reach out to new families and new people,” Batson said. “The children’s ministry has been incredible.”

In fact, Neptune said worship attendance, which once ranged from around 900 to 950 people a week, has increased to around 1,250 each week. The 20 or so children who usually attended the nursery during church services have been joined by 40 or so new friends on average each week.

Batson, who is himself a member of the church, said he was struck by the way the project has energized the congregation.

“This is an older church that is now bringing in new people regularly,” he said. “There is, of course, a great staff and great programs, but the facilities have played a part in finding new life and new opportunities.”

TurnerBatson Architects, www.turnerbatson.com, was founded in 1924 and is based in Birmingham, Alabama. The firm has completed more than 800 church projects located primarily in the Southeastern United States.

In a Nutshell

Church: Trinity United Methodist Church

Location: Homewood, Alabama

Project: Create a new children’s and youth space, as well as choir facility and other updates, including handicapped-accessible spaces for an older, established church

Size: 36,000 square feet of new space; touched another 50,000 in renovations

Cost: $9.2 million

Construction Time: 14 months

Challenge: The church was originally built in the 1940s and is in a landlocked location in a residential neighborhood.

Solution: Careful planning was needed to make the best use of every square foot of space. That meant getting rid of some unused space and designing others as multipurpose areas.