Taylor University is in the process of designing a new chapel and welcome center.
Andrea Masvero, executive director of 1846 Enterprises, and Keith Cocking, senior director of construction services, led a student-listening session March 3. They gave an overview of the project, provided a sneak peek of proposed designs and answered student questions.
The chapel and welcome center will be an extension of the LaRita Boren Campus Center. The new space is expected to be approximately 80,000-90,000 square feet, Cocking said, adding a projected 2,000 seats.
Rediger Chapel seats 1,500 people. Masvero said the university is aiming for 3,500 seats in the new chapel. They also want the expanded chapel to include campus pastor offices and a back-of-house green room where chapel speakers or bands can set up.
The project directors prioritize community feedback as they design the chapel and welcome center.
“So we’ve surveyed the Board of Trustees, the Board of Visitors, the campaign council, students, faculty, staff, a number of different groups to say, ‘What are your experiences within Rediger? What works well in that space? What doesn’t work well?’” Masvero said.
She said various desired characteristics kept occurring in survey responses. They have taken these recurring themes into consideration while planning the new space.
People want the chapel to be intimate, warm, homey, familiar and accessible. The survey feedback mentioned wood tones, darker colors, accommodations for people with disabilities and a layout that can efficiently move crowds in and out.
Masvero said Rediger is beloved. The new chapel will therefore maintain similar elements but be larger in scale.
Skip Trudeau, vice president for Student Development and Intercollegiate Athletics and director of the master of arts in higher education program, said he is looking forward to the first chapel service in the new space. He said he believes it will be beautiful.
“I think what happens in our chapel services is really a Holy Spirit thing,” Trudeau said. “I’m just excited to see what the Holy Spirit will continue to do, and do in greater measure in the new space.”
The welcome center will be an addition to the current student center. This space will house admissions, marketing, advancement and the President’s office.
Additionally, the center will act as a starting point for campus visitors, Cocking said, a welcoming environment for guests to enter before proceeding to their next destination.
“Every prospective student and their family is going to come (to the welcome center),” he said. “Advancement, donors, potential donors, any visitor to the president’s office, any visitor to the marketing department, they're all going to start coming through this center.”
While the welcome center will be a space for guests, Cocking said he also envisions current students enjoying the space as well. He does not want it to be a “quiet island” separate from the rest of campus.
Cocking enjoys seeing students at the Campus Center, hanging out under the stairs or in the seating areas off to the side. He hopes students will also nestle into the new welcome center.
“We would like to see that space be full of similar safe areas, kind of nooks and crannies, soft seating room for two or four people to hang out after lunch, before lunch, in between class,” Cocking said.
In addition to plenty of seating areas, the welcome center will feature lots of natural lighting, potentially a fireplace area and some historic features. For example, Masvero imagines shelves of yearbooks that alumni and other visitors can interact with.
Cocking said they have completed the conceptual design phase, which is where they nail down basic necessities and rough concepts. They are currently nearing the end of the schematic-design phase where there’s an emphasis on design and budget. After this phase, they will move on to design and construction drawings.
When construction begins, Trudeau assures people that while there may be different traffic flows and a little noise, the student center will remain open and accessible.
He acknowledged there has been a lot of construction on campus but said it is all in commitment to the student experience. It is part of the life of a university to continue to build and flourish, he said.
At the listening session, several students asked questions regarding traffic flow, layout, whether or not there would be bench seating in the balcony area and more.
Masvero and Cocking remain open to feedback as they progress through the project phases, and they plan to hold more listening sessions in the future.
