Features

The proposed plan, designed by innovative Dallas-based architect firm, The Beck Group, will physically change the landscape of the Dallas skyline, galvanizing a clear presence of the church at the center of the city.

The 1.5 million square-feet campus, which will be certified by the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System, will take the current fortress-like buildings and create an open, accessible glass structure.

The new worship center will hold 3,000 – almost twice as many as the existing sanctuary – with close to a mile of pews, all while providing an intimate worship setting. Special features will include a walk-through baptistery with family viewing space on the platform and seven high-definition televisions blended together placed above the choir space and orchestra pit. Below the worship center, on the first floor, will be senior adult education center with a 300-space parking garage below.

Families will enjoy the ease of an enclosed parking structure with convenient drop-off and direct access to preschool, children’s and youth education spaces. The six-floor education building will feature a double gymnasium, a roof-top prayer garden, junior high and high school theatres and an indoor playground. It will be connected to the worship center by a sweeping glass concourse, including a sky bridge over St. Paul Street.

At the heart of the campus will be a towering stone water tower topped with a luminescent cross. The shallow pool at the bottom will be surrounded by green space, providing a common area for downtown residents and guests.

The church’s historic steeple, taken down in the 1960s because of safety concerns and then installed in the Criswell Center multipurpose facility in 2006, will be restored to its original height. The current sanctuary, which dates to 1890, will be retained as a site for weddings, funerals and other special events.