St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Mt. Pleasant, SC

St. Andrew’s Church is located in the Old Village of Mt. Pleasant.   This charismatic parish has attracted new members from throughout the area. Concurrent services were being held in the historic church and parish hall, but together these spaces could not contain the congregation.   The new worship center is multipurpose.   It has movable seating and can accommodate 750 people.   The ground floor includes classroom space and a large flexible space for children’s chapel.   This chapel has a separate sound system for music production.   The narthex has large glass doors which allow overflow crowds to see and hear the services.   The main room was designed to recall the simple carpenter gothic style of the existing church while accommodating other nonliturgical activities.   The model used was the dining hall at Christ Church College, Oxford, which is a nonliturgical space that through the use of gothic detailing, can seem to be at once both sacred and secular.   This project is located in a community with strong zoning and design control.   The height, mass, and exterior details were strictly mandated by the town review boards.