Savannah Christian Church is a vibrant, growing congregation located in historic Savannah, along the coast of Georgia. Each week, more than 5,000 people come to worship at one of the church's four weekend services at its main campus. Additional services are held in an elementary school across town on Sunday mornings and in a downtown theater on Sunday evenings. 
   
Since about 1999, the church has doubled in size every three years, and, more recently, it has shown a growth pattern of 50% per year. One of the church's greatest outreach tools has been its strong youth ministries. In many cases, parents become part of the church because their children are involved in one of the youth ministry programs. 
  
When the church was developing a master plan for growth, it was obvious that one of the first priorities was creating the proper space for young people to worship, enjoy music, and just hang out and invite friends to join them. 
    
They turned to Hansen Architects in Savannah to help them design the right space.  Together, they developed The Link, a separate facility on the main church campus where junior high, high school, college students, and young adults come together for worship and fellowship. Weekly services are augmented with live concerts and small-group Bible studies. In between these more formal meetings, the facility is open for young people to hang out with friends and enjoy recreational activities.
    
"The best part of working with Hansen is that they understood we were building more than just a facility; we were creating an environment for life change," said Paul Wingfield, student ministries pastor at Savannah Christian Church.
   
The 31,000-square-foot Link facility has an additional 3,000 square feet of connected outdoor area. The building has several functions, including a two-level administrative wing and a two-level lounge with a 30-foot rock climbing wall as the central feature. Six large break-out rooms are located just off the lounge area. Double overhead doors connect the lounge space to a 600-seat worship auditorium, equipped and designed to provide a rock concert experience with concert-quality sound, specialty lighting and acoustics, and closed-circuit TV.
  
The well-planned lounge area serves as a welcome station and central hub of the facility.  A large comfortable seating area encourages groups to gather, while private booths create spaces for more personal conversations. A snack bar with a soda fountain provides easy access to refreshments for those hanging out at The Link.
  
But the facility encourages much more than just sitting and chatting. While there, young people might decide to navigate the rock climbing wall or shoot hoops in the basketball cage. There also are pool tables, air hockey games, and built-in X-Box stations to enjoy.
  
From an overlook area on the second floor, those visiting The Link can see much of what is happening throughout the facility, or they can gaze out the large windows over the adjacent lake. Glass overhead doors provide an open connection from the lounge area to a lakeside patio, allowing the space to open up for cook-outs or other large events.
  
The building was designed with a very hip, sleek, industrial feel that still manages to be comfortable and inviting. Stained concrete floors and an exposed metal structure and ductwork set the tone for the interior. Gyp board walls were designed to be sloped or angled for visual interest and acoustic control. Some walls were even covered in galvanized sheet metal. The exterior was mainly constructed of insulated steel and stucco panels.
 
"This achieved durability for the building's high-energy use and further created a youthful, contemporary environment of interest and fun," said J. Paul Hansen, FAIA, principal with Hansen Architects.
   
Planning and creating just the right facility for young people and seeing it through to fruition could take a great deal of time. However, the church had a pretty tight schedule that it wanted to maintain. The project took a year and a half, from design to completion, and the church wanted the youth ministries to be operating from the new facility in time for fall kick-off events. That meant everything needed to stay on schedule as much as possible.
  
"Early planning meetings established goals and a team understanding of every aspect of the project. This included early selection of a contractor," Hansen said.
 
Continual communication among the team also was important in keeping the project on schedule.
 
"Bi-weekly meetings between the contractor, owner and architect were critical. The church's full-time project manager was vital to the success, along with teams of volunteers helping to get the building ready for opening," said Erik Puljung, project coordinator with Hansen Architects.
 
For those considering a similar building project, those at Hansen suggest this same team approach. It also is important that churches be honest about what they want in a building.  The architectural design, they said, can be a huge contributor to the successful use of the space and acceptance by its users.

 Hansen Architects, www.hansensavannah.com, was established in 1945 and continues to distinguish itself as a leading design firm with a diverse range of services and project types. They are committed to listening to clients' needs and delivering projects that are responsive and uphold the firm's reputation for design integrity. 

In a Nutshell

Church: Savannah Christian Church
Location: Savannah, Georgia
Project: Design of The Link, a high-energy facility to house the church's junior high, high school, college and young adult ministries and the administrative offices for those ministries.
Size: 34,000 square feet
Cost: $5 million
Construction Time: 18 months, from design to completion
Challenge: The schedule was very tight, as several ministries had to move into the facility in time for important fall kick-off events.
Solution: Goals and timeline were established, and a contractor was selected early on.  The church designated a full-time project manager to work with the design and construction team, which met frequently throughout the project.