THE WORK OF SHAWN SWISHER
Chandler Foothills Community Church
Building Community
Chandler Foothills is a small, Seventh-Day Adventist church that focuses on community building. Because of the size of the congregation and their desire to have a close connection to the surrounding community, it was important to stretch every dollar of the budget to fulfill their needs. Design and construction were split into two phases - first, the classrooms and multipurpose spaces, and second, the sanctuary and auditorium - to allow for the congregation to raise enough funds for their ambitious goals. The first phase needed to be impactful enough, while remaining in budget, to inspire the community to share the vision of the church.
Phase 1 includes classrooms, offices, childcare spaces, a multipurpose room, and a kitchen, all of which orient around the church's goal of serving people. These spaces are collected around a central court, to provide an immediate visual and physical connection between all interior and exterior spaces. The eastern wing is anchored by the masonry volume of the multipurpose space, which will serve as the sanctuary until the end of the second phase. As the primary worship and performance space, it is the crux of the entire site. A large, horizontal slot window is set so that seated parishioners will view only the sky and nature around them; standing allows them to see their neighboring community. This wing includes the kitchen, a focal point of the church's service, and adult classrooms with collapsible partitions to fit the church's needs for flexibility.
The east and west wings are connected by a corridor connecting the multipurpose area to the children's classrooms. Branching off the corridor are the young adult classrooms, the church offices, and the restrooms. The west wing is bifurcated into two sets of children's classrooms, each with a collapsible partition to further divide the space. This provides greater flexibility as the church develops their childcare programs.