The interior gives Calvary as much gathering space as possible. To wit: the double-height lobby has space to welcome congregants with coffee and pastries ahead of morning service, there’s room to linger outside the sanctuary, and there’s now an outdoor terrace. 

A winding terrazzo staircase leads to the double-height sanctuary, suspended from a transfer truss so the space can be column-free. Because it is the most sacred area in the church, FXCollaborative clad the room in sustainably harvested mahogany to give it more gravitas. They also rounded the walls to give it a sculptural feeling. “It’s like a huge egg,” Kaplan says. 

The sanctuary is flexible to balance the myriad technical and experiential requirements of modern services. The room’s acoustics ensure that spoken word and everything from traditional to contemporary music sound balanced. Calvary livestreams its services to remote worshipers, and so the space is equipped with microphones and cameras. 

Programmable LED lights enable them to change the atmosphere. The number of attendees for services vacillates — upwards of 700 people for holidays like Easter and Christmas and less than 100 for a typical Sunday. FXCollaborative divided the seating into two tiers so smaller groups can sit in the lower section, and the room still feels full. 

Spacious modern auditorium with wooden pews, an organ, tiered seating, and a lectern on stage at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.Courtesy ©Chris Cooper/ArchExplorer

Expanding the programs it can offer mattered to Calvary. A multipurpose room downstairs flexes between a basketball court and gathering space. —This summer, they hosted World Cup watch parties in the room.—Upstairs, they use a smaller flex space for youth ministries and musical and theatrical performances. There are dedicated classrooms for Sunday school as well as a daycare. Calvary is also proud of its new commercial kitchen, which it will use for conferences and to prepare free meals for its homeless outreach programs. 

Now, the church is a place where the congregation can gather comfortably and continue its mission. “Being true to our message is the number one thing that drives us,” Williams says. “The church is a very warm fellowship, and so you feel it when you come in on Sunday. It feels like a family, and people are really connected.”