St. Margaret’s Presbyterian Church

The new St. Margaret’s Presbyterian Church facility is contemporary, engages with the suburban streetscape of Bishopdale with a striking trapezoidal building form directly adjoining the Farrington Street boundary footpath, offering the public a place for congregational worship, along with a diverse range of other day-to-day community uses.

Street-facing fenestration, boldly framed in cement panels, plays with light. By day, sunlight is drawn inside into the main hall, filtered and coloured through a dynamic arrangement of simple windows. There, it reflects internally from surface to surface. By night, the street corner is brought to life by the glow emanating through the frame, from within.

A versatile flexible layout enables various spaces, arranged around the main hall, to be used in isolation or combination, in different modes as needed. Generous door openings allow events to extend between spaces, or outdoors into a sheltered northern deck, terrace, and garden.

The spacious western entrance gallery offers café-style meet and greet, adjoining a well-appointed kitchen. Opening from the galley through generous doors is the central hall, which serves as the community worship space, supported with large format projection and integrated sound system, acoustically designed to favour vocal participation. Furniture is easily reconfigured to suit other modes of use such as conferences, receptions, exhibitions, etc. Commodious storerooms adjoining the space allow chairs, tables, and equipment to be cleared, or brought out as needed. An adjoining smaller gathering space caters for smaller groups, with separate access.