Mat Barber Kennedy: A Gift to Park December 4, 2007
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentFor the last few years, I have had the privilege of hanging out and getting to know Mat Barber Kennedy, a gifted artist in the Park body, who has made a living as a watercolorist both in the US and across the pond in England. Mat is an accomplished painter, a professor of arts, a excellent guitarist, a loving husband to Sherry and a cool dad.
As we have completed the PREPARING FOR MORE seaason, Mat has graciously painted a watercolor of the new building and its strategic position in the shadow of the skyline and has donated it to the church so that they could make it available to the body and generate funds for the new ministry center.
If you are interested in getting a copy, either in a signed limited edition print or a poster, please contact Tim Schraeder at tschraeder@parkcommunitychurch.org or 312.361.0519. If you would like to check out his other excellent work, please go to his website at matbarberkennedy.com
Adaptive Reuse of a Church October 22, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Weblog, Church, Adaptive Reuse, Church Construction , add a commentMany buildings and other commercial and organization structures are being made into churches and churches are also being made into residential homes. In Chicago, our church, Park Community Church, is providing an adaptive reuse for a 70,000 square foot warehouse, which will become our permanent church home. See here for the building plans.
In Santa Monica, architect and educator Anne Troutman had just about given up on finding a home with character when her prayers were answered–an 1875 Carpenter Gothic church had appeared on a multiple listing service. She and her husband went the other direction, taking a church and creating an adaptive reuse into a residence. Read the whole article here.
The humble church–Santa Monica’s oldest remaining wood structure and a landmark since 1977–has had four owners and three locations in its 130-year life. When the building was threatened with demolition in 1971, local artist Helen Taylor Sheats saved it from the wrecking ball by converting it into her atelier. The predicament for Troutman and her husband, architect Aleks Istanbullu, was how to retain the architectural integrity of the church, yet have it reflect their modern sensibilities. Their solution: a free-standing cabinet-like structure set within the 40-foot-square sanctuary. “The walls don’t touch the old church,” explains Troutman. “We essentially built a building within a building.”
