Partnering for a Higher Power
Hillside Community Church, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a thriving and active community church with numerous family-friendly programs tailored to children and adults.
In 2017, the continuous growth of the congregation prompted the leaders of Hillside Community Church to plot a course for an extensive renovation and expansion of their current facility. Through the pre-design stages of the project, many of the new features were prioritized by the design team and steering committee.
Some of the requirements included a new main entryway with a covered drop-off area to reroute the flow of traffic, an expansive hub space addition to receive patrons during services, as well as a new high-tech greeting area, coffee bar, and extensive renovations to transform the current Narthex into a multi-functional space. In addition, several classrooms were added for children and adults, as well as larger men’s and women’s bathrooms.
The Windemuller Approach
Windemuller approached the design-build process with efficient and elegant solutions. We provided a modern, unique design for the electrical work as well as a number of other systems:
- Complete facility fire alarm upgrades
- Access control systems
- Closed circuit security cameras
- Network backbone and server solutions
- Audio / video systems
- Live internal broadcast integration
By streamlining the process through the design-build platform, we were able to not only save costs, but also time! This resulted in a much faster completion rate than traditional building methods would allow for.
The Challenge
We faced two main challenges during the building of this beautiful facility.
First, the leaders at Hillside Community Church made it clear that we needed to concurrently execute both the additions and the renovations – without causing major interruptions to their daily programs and services.
Second, the church needed all functional spaces to remain available for their patrons to utilize throughout the building process.
Although this proved to be quite challenging, the design-build team was able to implement a sound strategy to keep the flow of the church functional and without service interruptions to the facility.
The Solution
By working hard to coordinate with other trades, Windemuller helped deliver agreeable solutions for all parties. The close collaboration helped us satisfy the church’s wish to remain operational throughout the project. In addition, because we designed the electrical as well as many other systems for the building, we were able to provide maximum efficiency. The end result for Hillside Community Church is a gorgeous new state-of-the-art worship facility with cutting edge electrical and ancillary systems.
