Clovis Heimsath, founder of Heimsath Architects, passed away recently just before his 91st birthday. We have been remembering Clovis, his energy, his curiosity, and his delight in sharing his opinionated ideas with others. Our colleague, Mickey Peavler of ATX Architects captured some of this in a podcast he recorded with Clovis in 2011. We are pleased to share this special recording. For those ... Read More
This discovery started with a simple, seemingly innocent question, “why not use a permeable paver to deal with poor drainage?” Months later, following many unfruitful searches, I can pretty confidently say the answer is simple: there once was a permeable paver, also called drainable paver on the market, but it no longer exists. I got the question from our client, a school district project manager ... Read More
On a sunny morning in early August, I joined the Shepherd of the Hills congregation as they celebrated Sunday worship outdoors. Like many congregations, we weren’t inside the newly renovated sanctuary due to Covid concerns. But the key to the success of this outdoor gathering was several years in the making. Careful planning and creative design transformed an underutilized courtyard into a ... Read More
Insulation Tips for Hot, Humid Climates The best way to insulate your house (or church, school, or office building) greatly depends on what type of environment you live in. If you look at historic houses and buildings, you can learn a lot about how to design for your climate, because early builders had to adapt to the local conditions to try to make buildings as comfortable as possible. Purple ... Read More
Each morning, for the past four Sundays, I have made preparations for attending church. I toss on jeans and a t-shirt, slip on house shoes, grab a cup of coffee, and settle down comfortably in front of my computer. As the top of the hour approaches, I pull up Facebook or one of several streaming platforms and join an on-line worship service. In normal times, our firm’s specialty in church ... Read More
Heimsath Architect’s team members are now in week 4 of self-isolation. Like many of you, our communications with the outside are mostly through the various conferences call applications (Go to Meeting, Zoom, Skype). It has been working well, though I find that looking all the faces in boxes invariably gets the Brady Bunch theme song stuck in my head. For the past 20 years, we have done our ... Read More
As a leader, the last thing you want is to find yourself in the middle of a complex task you aren’t sure you can do well. This fear is compounded if you’ve been a part of a failed project (of any kind) in the past. How do you get past the past, and put down any old baggage from past failures? Better yet, how do you learn from the past so that you can be calm during change and resolve all types of ... Read More
Leaders are always ahead of the game in the process of change. They have to be. They came up with the idea, or quickly embraced it. Everyone else is at least one step behind. That’s just the way it works. However, growing building program support for church transitions requires everyone, or at least a large number of the congregation to also get on board. Inevitably, there will be people who miss ... Read More
Crafting Mission and Vision Statements can be excruciating. Most people know that their congregation should have them, but they aren’t sure why. It feels a bit foreign, as though “business-speak” has crept into the vocabulary of faith. And connecting building projects to mission statements and vision statements may seem to be totally irrelevant. But in reality these connections are important in ... Read More
Every change, no matter how welcome, causes stress because making a change means letting go of something familiar. That is a loss, and when there is loss there is mourning. Anyone handling church conflict and change should also anticipate the importance of mourning for individuals and for groups. All of us deal with low levels of change/loss/mourning on a daily basis and manage to find our way ... Read More
Building programs for groups, communities, or congregations.
We've got a lot to share! Churches, religious communities, and non-profits all face unique challenges preparing for building projects. Some groups are even striking out with a building in a new location. Others simply need to refocus their energy on existing facilities. We hope these posts, drawn from our many years of experience, will provide helpful information and valuable resources.
Posts on anything to do with the built environment thats worshipful, spiritual, or simply worth noting.
