Faith Heights Church, here in our company’s headquarters city of Grand Junction, Colorado, is one of the newest congregations to use a Great Western steel building kit as its new house of worship. This building is truly outstanding in that it has very unique design elements and is a phenomenal example of what is achievable with the interior of a metal building.
Lead pastor Dominic Sandoval took some time to interview with our media team here at GWB to talk about this awesome building, the church, and why they went with Great Western.
Dominic told Great Western that their former building was great, but after the list of modifications and upgrades they wanted to make to it continued to compound, the church opted to start from scratch and build their own building to ensure they got exactly what they wanted. In addition, he gave us some insight into their desired features for the building and how they were implemented in the real-world design.
For one, he told us that they wanted their entry lobby to feel grand and welcoming without taking up unnecessary space. In addition, he considers the courtyard element of the building to be one of its multiple “crown jewels.”
“We really centered the entire plan around the courtyard. There is a lot of sun here, and it gets really hot. So, we wanted a covered courtyard where people could have community, where families could gather, where kids could play, and where, just, people could hang out,” Sandoval told GWB.
He also went on to explain that natural sunlight was an attribute that the church wanted to implement.
“We have a lot of windows and a lot of them are going from the ground all the way to the top of the room…in our previous building, there weren’t a lot of windows. So, there wasn’t a lot of natural sunlight coming in. So, we made that priority to really get all the natural sunlight we could, and it just helps people work better. It makes people feel better,” said Sandoval.
Faith Heights Church is truly a unique building design, and we think it’s phenomenal that so much thought was given to its use and what elements could benefit it during the design phase. Watching it come together from the idea phase to completion has been extremely rewarding from our end, and we think it came out fantastic!
Sandoval’s secondary “crown jewel” was awarded to the church’s auditorium. He told us that one of our key building elements, clear span framing, ensured that the church could get its auditorium set up exactly as they desired.
“I didn’t want any posts in the middle of the auditorium. I wanted everybody to have a clear line of sight to the stage. I didn’t want anybody to not feel like they had a good seat. I want every seat in that auditorium to feel special…everybody can enjoy the experience no matter where they sit,” Sandoval told GWB.
On top of the benefits of clear-span framing, Sandoval told us that the construction timeframe is hard to believe for some.
“When I tell other churches and pastors it was a year of construction… they’re blown away—actually, it was less than a year, just nine months. They genuinely can’t believe it,” said Sandoval.
At GWB, we take pride in the ease of assembly of our metal building kits. However, a remarkably fast construction time frame from start to finish requires more than just a well-engineered building. Fortunately, we also spoke with the company that erected the building for Faith Heights Church to gain insight into the process of erecting a Great Western building.
We spoke with Noah Hammond, one of the superintendents from Distinctive Design Build, the company that managed the construction of Faith Heights Church’s new building. He was gracious enough to give us an interview and share some kind words about working with us here at GWB. He outlines how there were some struggles with the field changes necessary to make the small details of this building work that the project’s architects couldn’t plan for.
“It ended up being field design changes that we had to do…walls that were supposed to be an eight-inch wall that really are 12-inch walls now because of the workarounds we had to do. Even down to as small as exterior outlets that nobody would think about not having places to mount, doing custom framing, and just trying to make all of those tiny little pieces work on such a big project can seem overwhelming…we were dealing with Eric and the relatively quick turnaround for a lot of the custom pieces that we had to ask for that were just a kind of unforseen thing when it come to trim or additions that we wanted to make, it was nice…even if we needed something small like screws or extra panels…they would take time out of their day and Eric would come down and personally deliver it to us,” Hammond said in his GWB interview video.
We’re very grateful for Noah’s kind words. He went on to mention that he appreciates the open communication with us here at GWB, and we take great pride in it, too. Our 24/7 customer support hotline is always at the ready to ensure you’re getting exactly the assistance you need whenever you may need it.
Overall, Faith Heights Church is one of the more unique buildings we’ve designed, and we’re more than happy to have been a part of it. We’re especially proud to have been a part of it, considering it’s right up the road from our factory here in Grand Junction, Colorado. We think it’s a beautifully thought-out and effective design, and the finished product is absolutely stunning!
Looking to build? Reach out to our team, and we’ll do everything we can to bring your dream into reality, too. If you have a vision that demands reliability, flexibility, and a partner that can move fast, we are here to make it happen.
You can get started by designing your building with our 3D Building Designer tool, requesting a quick quote, or contacting our team directly with your project details.
You should receive your estimated quote by email shortly. Please keep in mind that this is just an estimate and does not include snow loads, wind loads, county specific code requirements, delivery or design specific engineering calculations related to the structural soundness of the building.
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