Just completed this rendering of  Oak Dale Church, located in Salisbury, PA for architect John Wallis, of JDW Architects.

(click to enlarge)

For over a year now, we have been working with Pastor Ed Kirkland of Wantagh Baptist Church on Long Island, New York.  For some time, his congregation has been planning a relocation from their prior location in Wantagh, NY to a new facility in Farmingdale, NY.  They began by purchasing a building in Farmingdale in 2001 and renovating it to be used for new church offices and multi-purpose space.   Several years later, they were able to purchase an adjacent development parcel, and began plans for a major expansion.

Armed with their dreams and a new site to contain them, they embarked on a journey of master planning, capital campaigns, and negotiations with municipal authorities.  In April 2008, Ed called me after seeing our listing in the wfx exhibitors list and visiting our web site.  We discussed the various options available, and came to a selection of services that would best suit Wantagh Baptist Church’s needs.

We began by creating a 3D model of the proposed facility for Pastor Ed and his building team to study.  (View sample images here.)  This was instrumental in helping them evaluate the architect’s plans and compare them to their vision.  Over the next months we created numerous iterations of the exterior and interior spaces until they were satisfied that their new campus would be everything it could be.  Through these images, and online meetings where they could tour the new building in real-time, they were able to identify areas of concern and resolve them - thus eliminating issues long before construction even began when they are much more costly to change!  This enabled them to optimize their building while also stewarding the resources they had been entrusted with.

Besides the dozens of images we created for their review, we also created photoreal exterior and interior renderings for use in their capital campaign.  (In the end these also turned out to be very helpful in answering questions during construction!)  Some of these images follow:

Prior to the church’s capital campaign kickoff, it became clear that they would need some images illustrating how the building floor plan laid out in a way that the average layperson could understand.  We then created the following images for use as Pastor Ed and others gave tours of the building during early stages of construction.

I am happy to watch the progress of the new facility, named “Living Faith Christian Church” at their website.  Through Pastor Ed’s blog, and the numerous photos throughout all stages of construction, you can really see their new home take shape.  I have included a couple photos below.

It has been a pleasure to work with Pastor Ed and his team.  I am especially happy when I have the privilege to see, and somehow play a part in refining a design to be the best it can be, avoid potential problems, and on top of that, often save them money in the long run!  This is even more rewarding when working with a church where decisions made early on will have a significant impact on the function of the church for years to come.  And, where the wise stewardship of resources are all the more important as these are funds entrusted by hundreds of people for the furtherance of the gospel.

We continue to work with Living Faith to help them in tweaking their sanctuary design.  I’ll be posting some of these pictures when they are complete.

UPDATE:   Read Pastor Ed’s letter of recommendation here

I started some time ago experimenting with modeling buildings inspired by those on the grounds of The Village at Grand Traverse.  The Village began as a state asylum located in Traverse City, Michigan, in operation from the 1880s until 1989.  The buildings were based on the concept of Dr. Thomas Kirkbride, and designed by architect Gordon W. Lloyd.

In the summer of 2000, Ray Minervini of The Minervini Group, began a journey of acquiring and rehabilitating these wonderful buildings.  Today, the first phases of The Village contain dozens of shops, restaurants, offices and residences - all superbly appointed.

I have always loved the architecture of these buildings, and have worked with Ray over the years in his planning and visualizing his ideas.  Recently I have started experimenting with modeling these buildings in 3D in an attempt to recreate their original appearance.   My first attempts are in this Facebook photo album.  These are inspired by, and contain many elements of what is known as “Building 50″, but do not follow the floor plan of Building 50.  At that time I was more interested in exploring the modeling detail, lighting, etc.

Lately I became interested in recreating the buildings.  I began with Cottage 19.  I have included one current photo.  More can be found here and elsewhere, as these buildings have been photographed extensively.  I created this based on current photographs and measurements, as well as photographs from the turn of the century so I can present these buildings as they have not been seen in many years.

I’ve also included the first working image to test my render settings.  I’ll be adding more detail and materials.  Will probably post progress here, but this Facebook album will probably be more current.

Also, to stay current with what we’re working on, why not subscribe to our Facebook fan page?  Another great way to stay connected!
http://www.facebook.com/jssvisualdesigns

UPDATE!!!  2009-11-27

Lots of progress.  Visit Facebook album to see them.  Here is one of the latest (make sure you click to enlarge!):

Cottage 19 - Rendering of Front Elevation