Ukrainian Evangelical Church, Bensenville, Illinois

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Project Details:

Location: Bensenvillek, Illinois USA
Total Building Size: 10,962 sq.ft.
www.ukrainianchurchchicago.com

The church addition is designed for a poor congregation on a site that posed the design challenge of being confined to very small footprint. The congregation desired a design that reflected Classical style with a contemporary interpretation.

The church sits on long, narrow lot in a western suburb of Chicago, Village of Bensenville. The existing church was a simple, unadorned structure situated on a nondescript site surrounded by small houses. The architect’s first task was to rethink the relationship between the existing buildings and a new addition. The congregation’s list of needs was formidable: a minimum of 7600 sq.ft. had to fit to enable its membership to grow, a flexible space to accommodate numerous programmatic elements was necessary and the church leaders wanted the new sanctuary to have a high cathedral ceiling, with mezzanines and balconies flanking both sides.

Going 50% beyond the normal commission, leading architect Paul N. Poloz designed the church to maximize simplicity and economy of design and construction, using precast concrete to express design innovation while preserving the integrity of the material. Creating a successful adjunct to the existing building ultimately involved a harmony of form, shape and materials.

Design: Paul N. Poloz
Structural Engineer: Pease Borst & Associates LLC
Design Team: Gregory Makris, Ivan Zabolotski, Stoyan Maleev
Rendering: Vladimir Bulakh