The project encompasses the renovation of the two-story 46,000-square-foot church complex, including the lobby, banquet room, book store, choir room, Sunday school rooms, bridal suite, flex rooms, offices, and restrooms. The architects reconfigured the floor plan of the spaces to reflect the current needs of the church, refreshed the interior design, provided new lighting and glazing systems, and created a unified design aesthetic for the building. The design team also worked on updated lighting for the sanctuary to showcase the existing architecture.
McIntosh Poris Architects aimed to modernize the St. John Armenian Church complex with a “heritage meets modern” approach, imparting timeless elegance, and showcasing the rich history and beauty of Armenian culture. The architects were inspired both by the original 1960s midcentury building and the beauty of the Armenian symbolism of the existing sanctuary. The architects worked closely with the church to research the history of Armenian designs and symbolism and analyze their use in the existing sanctuary for inspiration throughout the building interior renovation. The resulting design is intended to create a sense of belonging for church members, be open and inviting to the public, and address the multigenerational needs of the entire Armenian Orthodox congregation.
Throughout the building, a materials palette comprises glass to bring in natural light, ornate woodwork to showcase Armenian motifs, marble, stone, brick, rugs and textiles, and gold accents that recall the iconic gold dome of the church. The designers also utilized an elongated hexagon, abundant in traditional Armenian textiles as well as in the church’s existing altarpiece, as a recurring formal motif throughout the building, seen in the patterning on walls, floors, and ceilings.
Guests are greeted in the spacious lobby with a 26-foot-long panelized mural from Armenian artist Arev Petrosyan. The work, which was produced in Armenia, is rendered in rich tones of beige, black, and gold. The idea for the art wall was originally conceived by the design team to feature doves, an important Armenian symbol found on the altar artwork in the existing sanctuary.
Designed to feel lofty and to accommodate a large group as a pre-function area, the lobby’s additional height was gained by inserting triangular acoustical fabric panels between the concrete tee-roof structure, rather than running a ceiling below it. The sawtooth acoustical panels with bright cove lighting add an ethereal glow to the space, and the sawtooth shape recalls the church’s existing concrete lobby canopy, banquet room curtain wall, and sanctuary roof. The lobby also includes a 31-foot-wide custom-dyed area rug produced in collaboration with Hagopian, a local Armenian family-owned flooring company. Based on an antique Armenian rug from the church’s museum, the piece adds comfort and intimacy to the room and impresses with its scale. A more prominently offset lobby bookstore provides socialization and educational opportunities for guests and a small fundraising arm for the church. The architects added acoustical separation between spaces so that the building can conveniently host simultaneous events without concern of noise disruptions.
In the 900-person banquet hall, the architects raised the ceiling in front of the curtain wall to 20 feet, adding a significant amount of natural light that better showcases the original midcentury sawtooth curtain wall design. Working with the triangular geometry of the curtain wall and accommodating a lowered structural area, the architects designed a ceiling cloud composed of elongated hexagonal coffers with recessed lighting. The hexagon motif also appears subtly in the room’s custom carpet and new custom wood doors.
To improve accessibility and circulation, the architects designed a new ground-floor choir room that includes robe storage closets and a changing room. Sunday school classrooms are designed with bright and colorful interiors to engage children. Church staff work areas have been relocated and reconfigured to better facilitate productivity. First-floor restrooms were renovated and reconfigured, and a new family restroom was created, all with handsome, satin brass hardware, dark wood molding, and mosaic wall tile in Armenian geometric motifs.
To ensure that parishioners could read during services without the light being too dim or too bright, the architects worked with the lighting team at Illuminart to install new energy-efficient recessed LED lighting with multiple settings in the sanctuary dome. The lighting design was carefully planned to provide just enough footcandles at pew height. Previously, there were problems with the light being too dim in the pew seating area.
