Location: Henderson, Nevada
Seating: 150 seats
Area: 6,500 SF
Construction: Slab on grade, wood framing, pre-engineered wood trusses, ganged pre-engineered trusses in worship space, split-faced concrete block and stucco exterior finish, asphalt shingles.
Construction cost: $750,000
Date of completion: 1992
Background
St. Timothy was a small, very active congregation, who practiced their own unique form of Episcopalian faith, guided by the leadership of 80 year old Father George Gerard. Most of the congregation spoke in tongues; a new experience for me. A fire had completely destroyed their makeshift structure, which was once a chapel that had been moved from a nearby army base. They were very fond of their little building, and had felt the loss for some time.
With insurance funds, St Tim was enthusiastic and curious to participate in the design of their new home. I had just developed a format for a workshop designed to identify a profile of their community faith. The workshop proved very successful because the discussion, which at first, involved the moderator, to my delight, turned into exchanges between the 30 parishioners in attendance. Besides dealing with their grief over the loss of their building, an intense, honest and, even tearful revelation of their beliefs followed and became the basis for the design of the site and many building details. Use of the workshop has continued with great success with later communities.
The construction of the building was less joyful and suffered from unethical performance from the contractor, from which the process was corrected.
About the Design
Land area was lacking to provide space for a larger worship space, but it became clear that the community had many dimensions and used the social hall, classrooms, the courtyard and the meditation building to their fullest capacity. This was their request. Another request was for a substantial bell tower, for which the city fathers showed an appreciation for the urban feature, the small suburb of Las Vegas town of Henderson lacked. The required parking could not have been met without the city suggestion to share parking with the adjacent casino. The urbane character of the tower may have been involved.
