PADUCAH, KY
In 1993, St. Thomas More Church commissioned Williamson Pounders
Architects to design a new 25,000 SF church on a gently rolling 21 acre
site on the outskirts of Paducah, Kentucky. In addition to the
design of the new church building, the work includes a long-range master
plan for the entire site. Site amenities will include a nature area,
playing fields, pond and water sports pavilion, parking, and housing for
clergy and elderly parishioners.
The core of the St. Thomas More design is the central plaza around which the buildings are clustered. A phased approach to construction is made significantly easier by the cluster design since buildings can be added one at a time until the semicircle is complete.
Phase I, dedicated in Fall 1996, includes the main worship space, sacristies, chapels, and meeting rooms. The six hundred seat sanctuary is designed so that future expansion is possible without affecting or changing existing spaces. WPA also custom designed the liturgical furnishing including altar table, seating, pews, baptismal font, and tabernacle. Phase II, scheduled for completion in the fall of 1999, will focus on the administrative, child care, and parish fellowship spaces.