Gateway Church of Christ, located in Pensacola, Florida, is a large-scale new construction and renovation project that was designed by BGW Architects and constructed by The Collage Companies, the exclusive BGW Builder for Central and North Florida.
The project involved the construction of a new 33,000-square-foot worship facility along with an additional 12,000 square feet of renovations to create new children’s classroom spaces.
The new construction included a 650-seat sanctuary, adult classrooms, administrative offices, two kids play areas, a kitchen and a gymnasium.
In line with Gateway’s vision to be “a warm, joyful, diverse community that loves God and Christ, loves and accepts one another and is dedicated to reaching out to bring others to Christ,” their new home supports many community outreach programs, including a Homeless Ministry.
The structure is made of solid, tilt-up concrete walls, impact-resistant glazing, and a fully loaded commercial kitchen for their volunteers who cook regularly for large gatherings of people.
For many years to come, this facility will be a true expression of Gateway’s heart to serve the people of Pensacola and will be an open door for all people to come and connect and worship in a vibrant and inviting space.
Through the design and construction process, the BGW/Collage team was able to tailor the design and construct a facility to meet all the programmatic needs, while staying within the church’s debt-free budget.
Lead Pastor Jeremy Kughn said, “When we started, we interviewed five different architectural firms, and when we boiled it all down to the one we wanted to use, it was clearly BGW. We entered into their charette design phase, three days spent intensively together casting that vision. By the end of that three days, we had a product that we couldn’t believe had been formulated in that short of a timeframe. I’ve been doing ministry now for over 23 years, and I have worked at four different churches. This is my third design and build that I’ve been a part of. This was the only firm that I’ve ever used that specifically built churches.”
He continued, “Every other design firm that we went with had a lot of great intentions, but now those churches are stuck within a structure that really doesn’t work for them. I remember being frustrated in those early meetings with those other firms and not knowing why. When we met with BGW, they were able to explain why. I look back on that now and think that if we’d only had BGW at the other locations, we could have designed something a lot more functional. It became apparent very quickly that they knew how to use and maximize space. We wanted to be able to walk into the space and see everything so there was less confusion. That’s difficult to do, but BGW knocked it out of the park.”
Building God’s Way (BGW) has a mission to build God’s Kingdom by translating the God-given vision of Christian organizations through innovative, stewardship-driven design, www.bgwservices.com.
