UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION
FACT SHEET
Since its founding in 1990, the Church of the Resurrection (COR) in Leawood, KS, has become the largest United
Methodist Church in the U.S., with 18,000 members. To expand the church’s existing facility on a 76-acre
suburban site, HGA Architect and Engineers (HGA) designed a 141,438-square-foot building with a majestic
sanctuary for 3,500 worshippers that includes 21st century multimedia and theatrical lighting capabilities and the
93-foot-wide/35-foot tall Resurrection Window; nonetheless, the sanctuary also was planned to generate a sense
of intimacy. The new building is expressed on the exterior via a series of seven stainless-steel clad “sails” inspired
by the seven days of creation, which beckon worshippers while creating the cathedral-like volume inside. The
legacy building has become a landmark for congregants, visitors and passersby on the exterior; inside, the church
is a place of sanctuary and celebration.
Program
Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of Church of the Resurrection, asked HGA for a new sanctuary that conveyed a
sense of “thin space” between heaven and earth, meaning architecture that implicitly connected individual
worshippers with God—that “proclaims the gospel by its very design.”
The program also required balancing a series of contradictions and juxtapositions:
● the sanctuary’s majestic 44,958-square-foot size with a sense of intimacy and community;
● abundant natural light with sacred imagery included in a colored-glass window;
● 21st century performance technologies with religious humility;
● acoustics and lighting for a range of performances, from solo musicians to holiday pageants;
● a large LED screen for media presentations with a traditional stained-glass-style window embedded with
storytelling that conveys the church’s sacred narrative;
● historical precedent and the requirements of a growing 21st century congregation.
Planning
HGA deployed its performing arts and religious expertise in the planning and design of the sanctuary to most
efficiently and effectively balance the client’s vision and the program requirements. The new sanctuary seats
3,500 congregants in a daylight-filled, cathedral-like space, while a thrust chancel platform, single balcony and
the elliptical plan (which organizes the seats into smaller community groups) brings a majority of the congregants
within 90 feet of the worship leaders. The chancel culminates in a large LED video screen and a custom-designed
stained glass window incorporating sacred symbols and narrative elements that tell the Bible’s overarching story.
Outside, HGA created a sense of procession that begins in the parking lot. Here, naturally landscaped splines
radiate toward and gather at the arrival plaza. The sanctuary’s elevated, cradling form gathers the community
from all directions. A cloistered worship garden serves as an outdoor anteroom for community events.
Architecture
HGA designed the new sanctuary’s dynamic exterior form to narratively convey the church’s welcome and call to
gather. Comprised of seven stainless-steel “sails” inspired by the seven days of creation, the forms rise 104 feet to
cradle the sanctuary and create its soaring interior volume, while bookending the 93-foot-wide/35-foot-tall
stained-glass window on the exterior, which sits on a 35-foot-tall Kansas limestone base. A sense of the “thin
space” between heaven and earth is reflected in the material contrast between the naturally fossilized limestone
base and the stainless-sails above. The sails also alternate with vertical windows to bring natural diffused light
into the sanctuary, while drawing the eye upward for reflection, prayer and adoration.
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HGA - Church of the Resurrection
Fact Sheet - Page Two
Inside, a water feature reminds members of their baptisms as they enter from the narthex. Two 16-foot high doors
open into the sanctuary and offer dramatic views from the narthex of the chancel's entire backdrop. Using an
elliptical geometry, the sanctuary was planned so that congregants and worship leaders are within 90 feet of each
other. A section of the chancel floor was built on hydraulic lifts, to allow orchestra seating, props for dramatic
presentations and other items to be raised into the sanctuary from the lower level of the church.
Above the chancel is the 3,260-square-foot Resurrection Window, comprised of more than 5,000 pieces of
painted, fused, etched and glazed glass, and installed above a 15-foot-tall/93-foot-wide video display. The
window and LED display are flanked by 15-foot-wide/60-foot-tall aluminum panels fabricated with a vine motif
to reflect the Resurrection Window's garden theme and to allow sound from the organ speakers they conceal to
flood the sanctuary.
Engineering
To create the elliptical, column-free sanctuary, HGA engineers innovated new strategies to create long-span roof
trusses and inward-sloping, steel-supported walls 100 feet high, which add a sense of awe and wonder. To
efficiently provide heating, cooling and ventilation to such a large space, engineers designed a displacement
under-floor air system that used construction voids created by the sloping seating areas to provide conditioned air
to diffusers under the seats of main level and balcony. In addition, air-handling units were equipped with an air
economizer that allows indoor air temperatures to remain comfortable without mechanical cooling when the
outdoor air is temperate.
CREDITS:
Project:
Location:
Opening:
Size:
Architect:
General Contractor
HGA Professional Services:
HGA Project Team
Principal in Charge
Project Manager
Project Team
Senior Project Designer
Design Team
United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
Leawood, KS
March 2017
141,438 SF / 3,500-seat sanctuary
HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA)
McCownGordon Construction
Architecture, Energy Studies/Design Assistance, Mechanical Engineering,
Lighting Design, Structural Engineering, Interior Design, Landscape
Architecture
John Justus
Rebecca Celis
Todd Kraft
Loren Ahles
Alex Terzich, Nat
Madson, Justin Bice,
Tim Carlson
Structural Engineering Lead
Interiors Lead
Landscape Architecture Lead
Lighting Lead
Mechanical Lead
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Sarah Jorczak
Ariane Laxo
Tryg Hansen
Tao Ham
Edward Clements
HGA - Church of the Resurrection
Fact Sheet - Page Three
Consultants
Civil Engineer
Olsson Associates
Elevator/Vert Transport
Lerch Bates Inc.
Electrical Engineering,
Henderson Engineers
Fire Protection, Plumbing,
Technology
Specialty Consultants
Acoustic
Audio Visual
Theatrical/Lighting
Liturgical/Art
Stained Glass
Acoustic Distinctions
Idibri
Schuler Shook
Richard Vosko
Judson Studios
About HGA
HGA is an integrated architecture, engineering and planning firm specializing in the healthcare, corporate,
government, arts, community, higher education, and energy & infrastructure markets. Founded in 1953, HGA
supports clients’ goals by delivering responsive, innovative and sustainable design. Offices include Minneapolis
and Rochester, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose and Los Angeles,
California; and Washington DC. Visit HGA.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
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