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Despite the large membership and size of the complex, the majority of the First Baptist buildings tend to act as a barrier between the downtown core and Springfield. This phenomenon occurs because several structures have been designed to keep people in the buildings and off the streets. This is reinforced by a heavy presence of security guards that give the impression to the casual pedestrian that the church is strictly off-limits for non-members.
Below, Metro Jacksonville offers a few architectural and urban design solutions to better integrate the core of the campus with downtown. The result would benefit the church by appearing more accessible to potential members and a downtown with additional pedestrian traffic, which is critical to achieving urban vibrancy.
Although three blocks of Laura Street travel through the center of the First Baptist campus, minor improvements between Beaver and Ashley Streets have the ability to change the entire facility's outside perception.
1. Expose Existing Restaurant
Image 1
Looking east from the NW corner of Laura & Ashley Streets
The Children's Building and Welcome Center properly addresses the street and attracts pedestrian foot traffic
Image 2: Photographed from exact same location as Image 1
Looking north from the NW corner of Laura & Ashley Streets
Directly across the street, the atmosphere is desolate despite the fact that this building houses the First Baptist Church restaurant.
Laura Street lies just beyond the dining room's glass block windows.
In most cases, improving interactivity between a building and the street will have a major impact on the interior use of the space behind the facade. At the corner of Laura & Ashley, the desirable interactive use is already in place in the form of a restaurant.
Unfortunately, unless one is familiar with the church, the structure's appearance suggests that the street level space is used for storage or warehousing. Simply replacing the restaurant's glass block windows with something that allows those from the outside to see what takes place inside not only increases the restaurant's business but also adds light and activity to a desolate central block of the church campus. The addition of awnings and signage would also improve the area.
2. Campus Streetscape Lighting
The majority of the First Baptist Church campus would benefit from an upgrade in street lighting. As the campus ages and the time comes to restore and upgrade existing buildings, special attention should be given to uplighting these structures and the landscaping surrounding them.
The image above captures Laura Street between the Children's Building (right) and restaurant (left). Which side of the street appears to be more inviting?
3. Utilizing Extra Space
The entrance hall of the Children's Building.
The First Baptist campus includes multiple auditoriums, sanctuaries, and common areas that are rarely used. With a little creativity, these areas could be better utilized as spaces for galleries and exhibits showcasing Jacksonville, the church, and its impact on the community.
Better utilization would benefit the church's growth, downtown's vibrancy, and help bridge the connectivity gap between Downtown and Springfield.
4. Conclusion
First Baptist Church and Laura Street corridor today.
This image combines several conceptual projects proposed along Laura Street between Hemming Plaza and Springfield. If all become reality and are well integrated with one another, this corridor has the potential to be an exciting pedestrian friendly connection between Downtown and Springfield.
In conclusion, the image above captures the condition of Laura Street and the exterior of FBC's restaurant. The sketch below, of a project at St. Vincent's Medical Center, serves as an example of what something as simple as awnings, outdoor seating and landscaping can do for integrating an existing facility with the outdoor urban environment.
With minor exterior improvements and better utilization of facilities already in place, FBC's section of Laura Street could become a vibrant pedestrian friendly connection and destination in the urban core.
Photographs by Daniel Herbin and Ennis Davis
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Miss Fixit
March 09, 2010, 08:12:25 AMGreat ideas - implementation would benefit both church and community at large.
fsu813
March 09, 2010, 09:31:13 AMWhat's FBC incentive to do such a thing?
Unless their is demand by their congregation or people with influence.....
thelakelander
March 09, 2010, 09:42:05 AMWhat was Potter's House's incentive to revitalize the Normandy Mall?
In Spring of 2006 renovations began on the last 177,000 square foot of the mall and now it is the home of the West sides largest shopping venue and is now known as Kingdom Plaza. People come from all over the world to see and marvel at this once dilapidated facility that now houses Jacksonville’s number one soul food restaurant, THE POTTER’S HOUSE SOUL FOOD BISTRO. The 300 seat restaurant anchors the mall along with the 14,000 square foot state of the art fitness and aqua center (Temple Builders). Anchoring the east end of the mall is a 22 lane bowling alley and gameroom called King Pins Bowling center. The mall also is the home to Eden Spa and Salons a full service day spa with the latest in spa equipment. There is a jewelry store, florist, tee shirt shop, pro bowl shop, women’s shoe store, cellular phone store, health food store, medical supplies store, insurance company, realty offices full day care and pre-school center, barber shop and more to come. And the vision continues to unfold with our visionary’s eyes set on the 27 1/2 acres of undeveloped land . . . waitingfor the next move of God. We’re sure that the best is yet to come.
http://www.potters-house.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=75
If you're in the business of "saving souls" wouldn't you have a stronger impact at prevailing in your mission by being apart of and a catalyst for the community that surrounds you? My guess is that revitalizing the Normandy Mall exposes Potter's House and their endeavors to a larger percentage of the community they attempt to evangelize.
Other than that, something as simple as exposing the restaurant they have to the general public could allow them to increase the profitability of that facility and what religious organization does not need a little extra income for funding their ministries?
fsu813
March 09, 2010, 10:05:28 AMBesides Spar Council, has any other neighborhood organization or stakeholder in SPR approached FBC to create a working partnership of sorts.
I'd imagine establishing a relationship with FBC would the first step in getting them involved as a catalyst.
duvaldude08
March 09, 2010, 10:18:37 AMHello all!
I attend the Potter's House and I am actually very proud of the facility. It is a great example of "thinking outside of the box" I feel we need more revitalization projects like this (in the urban core). This sure beats seeing that empty shell of a mall that was there previously. I commend bishop as this was very creative. If you haven't checked it out, you should. From the Sanctuary to the mall, this place is gorgeous. And the Bistro is a delight if you are into soul food.
When it comes to a church, an "incentive" is never the goal of a project. ( at least for the potters house anyways)
thelakelander
March 09, 2010, 10:22:58 AMFsu813, most likely, DVI and the JEDC, from a public standpoint. Or perhaps it can be as simple as getting someone on board, inside of the church. Their buildings are aging so at some point, they will have to pour in money to retrofit and upgrade them. When that time comes, it would be a perfect opportunity to include context sensitive design solutions.
Captain Zissou
March 09, 2010, 10:54:11 AMI would say that cafe is already aging, so upgrading it to interact with the city should be done sooner rather than later. It benefits the city to have them cooperate, so a small financial incentive could be given to the church. The church should want to improve its surrounding neighborhood, and further ingratiate itself with the city, so they have incentive to remodel.
This could be a favor they do for the city that they can call in whenever they want to force some ridiculous alcohol ban in the future....
thebrokenforum
March 09, 2010, 12:55:46 PMThe last thing downtown needs is more church influence.
urbanlibertarian
March 09, 2010, 05:57:52 PMSpeaking of positive church involvement downtown, perhaps the main reason that the Parks at the Cathedral development got built was because the Episcopal Cathedral donated the land and partnered with the COJ and Bank of America to make it happen. I may not agree with some churh positions on alcohol and other things but as a DT resident I consider the churches good neighbors.
Seraphs
March 09, 2010, 07:18:29 PMGood luck with this. I've never known FBC to become really involved in downtown or the community, unless it was to shut something down. I admire the optimism some of you are expressing over this, but when it comes to becoming involved I find the congregation aloof and nonchalant.
stjr
March 09, 2010, 07:28:40 PMAny chance of retrofitting the garage fortresses for street level retail? Those are the biggest blights to me. What else could be done to enhance those blocks?
Kay
March 09, 2010, 11:11:50 PMMike Hogan is a member of First Baptist and running for mayor. Would be interesting to ask if he would support your suggestions.
stephendare
March 09, 2010, 11:33:38 PMthe leadership of First Baptist has dramatically changed.
They are ready to join the downtown community.
urbanlibertarian
March 10, 2010, 04:48:13 PM^^Good news.
stephendare
May 30, 2010, 06:51:25 PMIts sometimes hard to remember that Downtown really does look like this in places!
This is the Northern end of the Laura Street Corridor.
Mattius92
May 31, 2010, 12:12:41 AMIf we ever want to make Laura street the street to be, FBC needs to revamp the exterior of their campus. However I dont think they really care, unless the congregation approves, and why should they. Though the church could totally fit in, just right now its totally desolate.