Can We Make Our Sanctuary Multipurpose?
Like many things in life, it depends. A couple of factors come in to play here.
1. Is your sanctuary floor sloped or flat?
This is important. Have you ever tried standing sideways on a sloped floor for a long period of time. Some what uncomforatble, isn't it? Or maybe tried to play ball or even set up a table with chairs. All of this is very problematic. The first rule is you must have a flat floor.
But, don't panic, yet. If your floor is sloped and you need a multipurposed area, it is much cheaper to level the concrete out than build a whole new building.
2. Are you willing to switch to chairs if you don't already have chairs?
It can't be multipurposed with pews, period. Even if they weren't bolted to the floor, which they most likely are, have you ever tried to lift one?
Chairs are nice because they can be quickly stacked and dollied out of the room or to the side walls. There are some very attractive chairs on the market, many of which we carry.
3. Are you willing to put down a multi-colored high traffic commercial grade carpet or a hard surfaced floor covering?
That nice solid colored or bright colored plush carpet in the sanctuary will just not cut it for long. If you want to play sports or if you want to have food and /or beverages in the sanctuary, it is very impractical. If you are going to have sports, like basketball, its nice to lose the carpet idea all together. You do want your sanctuary to still be attracive from week to week and carpet was just not meant to take the abuse of physical sports.
A hard surfaced floor covering is really ideal if you will be installing basketball goals on either end. Hardwood is nice, but scuffs up very easily and is not good for spills. Tile is good for spills but hurts and breaks bones very easily when people fall. However, there are rubber like vinyl solutions that look like hardwood and other materials, can be played on, and ate on with no consequences.
4. How high is your ceiling and what kind of lighting do you have?
Low ceilings take out the sports element generally. Even if you have high ceilings, chandeliers or low hanging pendant lighting needs to be changed to sports friendly lighting.
5. Once the chairs are removed, how much uninterrupted square footage is in your sanctuary?
If you have a protruding stage, a sound booth in the middle of the sanctuary, or even a fixed elevated camera position, this can be problematic if sports is one of your reasons for wanting multipurposed. These things can be worked out in the design stage to still meet the need that these elements were intended for but allow your new needs to be met as well.
6. What kind of windows do you have and where are they in the sanctuary?
Windows are only a problem generally with sports. Look around your sanctuary and ask, whats the chance of a ball hitting that? If fellowship hall is your main goal and not sports, windows are fine.
7. What kind of walls do you have?
Generally, only hard surfaced walls that can't be punched thru or indented with a ball need be used for organized sports. You can't expect to tell a bunch of 15 year olds to not hit the wall when they throw the ball.
