August 2002

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If you would like additional information about FSF Architects please contact us by email or call, 770-729-8433 or 1-800-463-3732.

If you have not yet visited our website, please do so.  It contains information on the firm as well as selected projects.  Also on the site is a collection of church design articles meant to assist the church committee in the planning and design process.

"Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still;  teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning."
     - Proverbs
         9:8

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."
     - Proverbs
         22:6

Previous issues of our  newsletters are available on the web site

Marietta, Georgia

Site improvements included the addition of a new playground area and the bus entrance, loading and unloading area was redesigned to allow more busses access to the staging area.  This area also received a new covered entrance.  Handicap access was improved with the addition of ramps at two locations.

The project was built by Ward General Contractors of Marietta, Georgia for $ 1,250,000 and completed three months ahead of schedule.

Visit this project and others on our website.

Are your Sunday School teachers telling you that their classrooms are "maxed out"?  Are you certain that you have a problem?

Capacity is defined as the maximum number of people that will comfortably fill a meeting space so that there is little or no room left to add any more people. As you add more people above capacity, it becomes very difficult to achieve the objectives which you have for that space. 

The biggest factor in determining capacity is age group, with the following guidelines for each age grouping:   

Babies through 5 year olds - 25 to 35 square feet per child.
First grade through fifth grade - 25 square feet per child. Assembly rooms used for short periods of time - 
    12 to 15 square feet per child.
Middle and High School Youth  - 15 square feet per person.
College age and adults - 12 square feet per person. 
Large Youth / Adult assembly room of more than 40 people - 
    10 square feet per person
Senior Adults (age 60 and above) - 15 square feet per person. 

To determine if a classroom has reached capacity, measure each classroom, excluding built-in cabinets, shelves, etc. and calculate the area in square feet. Average the high attendance for each month during the past year and divide that number into the room area. If the average high attendance exceeds the room capacity by more than 15%, then you really are out of space in that room. 

When you are regularly exceeding 80% of capacity in many of your Sunday School rooms, it is past time to start planning for more space. In rapidly growing churches, when attendance starts to exceed 70% of capacity, planning for more space should already be well underway. By the time new space is ready, you may already exceed capacity in many departments. If you fail to begin planning soon enough, by the time you have reached capacity, your growth will have slowed to a stop.

To read more about Sunday School Spaces, read the entire article and others that are available on FSFarchitects.com

Peachtree City, Georgia

The building features a 90 seat chapel, a 100 seat meeting room, 12 classrooms and a 300+ person Life Teen assembly area.  Also in the project is expansion of the parking areas and reworking of storm water control.

The $2,000,000 facility should begin construction in October and be ready for Occupancy in the Summer of 2003. 

Christ the King Lutheran Church in Cumming dedicated their new children's education facility on June 9th.  The 10,000 square foot facility was completed by Mission Builders.  This is the second project completed at Christ the King by the ELCA volunteer group.

FSF has been commissioned by Jackson First Baptist Church to Master Plan their 15 acre site in preparation for the addition of a Family Ministries Center.

FSF has completed the Master Site plan for Christ Presbyterian in Marietta and has begun working on the schematic design for a new education building.

Continuing the success begun in Hawkinsville, Planters First has commissioned FSF to design a new branch bank in historic Fitzgerald.

Colonial Hills Baptist Church dedicated their Sanctuary expansion and education / foyer addition on July 28th.  This project was successfully constructed by A.D.E. Builders of Marietta.  Don Mathis of Capstone LLC was the Project Manager.

FSF has begun working with Northside Baptist in Elberton to design their new Master Site Plan.  

Foreman · Seeley · Fountain    Architects
5855 Jimmy Carter Boulevard      Suite 218      Norcross, Georgia  30071
(770) 729-8433      fax (770) 729-8466     1-800-463-3732