New Life Covenant Church was designed to provide much needed space for the quickly growing congregation in the urban setting of the Humboldt Park community of Chicago. With Reverend Wilfredo De Jesus’ (Pastor Choco) vision that “nobody is beyond the grace of God,” the church began to look for a place to house its growing congregation.
- 27,000 s.f.
- 1,200 seat auditorium
- Large gathering area
- Classrooms
- Sustainable features
- Chicago Good Neighbor Awards Winner 2014
How do we create a new, vibrant church in an existing highly-industrialized neighborhood that connects with the culture of the commuity?
An open and transparent neighborhood-embracing exterior that welcomes and embraces everyone in the community.
BLDD worked closely with the City of Chicago, the Department of Housing and Economic Development as well as the neighborhood and its Aldermen to bring the facility to life quickly for the community, to act as a ray of hope within the community.
Through the development of a master plan with BLDD, Calvary began as a two-phase construction project and moved into their current building after completing the first phase in 2002. Phase One was split into two sections, a north wing and east wing. The north wing contains offices, the preschool and classrooms. The east wing holds the worship center, youth area and kitchen. They are connected in the center by the Atrium.
As a result of developing a master plan, a fellowship hall was constructed to connect the church’s three buildings into one contiguous facility. The fellowship hall was designed to accommodate a temporary worship setting during subsequent phases when the 1895 sanctuary building was being refurbished.
St. Paul’s Church moved into an old clothing distribution center and remodeled a portion of the building to include their sanctuary and Christian education spaces. Blessed with member growth and looking to reach more of the community, St. Paul’s wanted designs for the facade that would better represent them as a church from the exterior. The design solution created a main entrance, warmed up the facade and brought the scale down to feel more welcoming.