X

First Alliance Church is an established church in Calgary with a history of over 50 years. Due to the strong and continued growth of the congregation, the Church realized their existing site and building were inadequate to accommodate their future plans. The Church selected RNL to help capture a vision for the future and begin the planning process on a new site. The project started with collaborative programming to determine the Church’s space needs and ministry priorities. Following the program phase, two interactive design sessions were conducted with the Church for both master planning and conceptual design. The result is a phased master plan which provides 328,000 sf and 1400 parking spaces.

The first phase of construction featured a 2,300-seat worship center with terraced seating. The large stage, backstage, and rehearsal spaces accommodates the Church’s focus on performance style worship. The “big idea” for the project revolves around a large, 2-story atrium style lobby and “mainstreet” corridor system to connect the worship center to the other ministry spaces. Those spaces include a 2-story children’s wing, multi-purpose youth/gym space, a 7,500 sf banquet space with moveable partitions, and administrative offices. Another design feature is a large, flexible “atrium” performance space which doubles as the Church’s cafe.