Sek Sak Light Church is a community church congregation made up of local villagers, supported by Grace, a missionary from Australia representing Care Ministries International Australia Incorporate. Every Sunday, they meet for bible study training, distribute rice to the poor, & share meals together. The Church consists of 13 adults and 10 kids, but hosts regular congregations of up to 100 people every third Sunday when they distribute rice to locals and share meals together.
They currently do not have a permanent church building. To meet, they will often place chairs on vacant land or use makeshift shelters, which do not provide any protection from the harsh year-round tropical heat or monsoon rains. In spite of this, the villagers continue to meet every Sunday & support each other through the Church.
Grace is a strong supporter of the community and is leading the effort to establish a formal congregation space for the Church. The Church has been gifted a small plot of land to build a formal Church building for the congregation. The new Church building will provide safety and shelter for their congregation as well as basic amenities such as toilets and clean water.
The building would also act as a community hub provide other services for local villagers, such as food storage and distribution, medical check-ups and treatment and lodging for local and international visitors from other Churches.
We were approached by Grace to prepare a Concept Design for the new Church site to enable Grace to fundraise for the project. Based on our conversations with Grace, we understood that the villagers don’t just need a simple Church building, but rather a multi-functional space that allows for safe gathering, care and shelter for this community. The site provided for the church measures 1000 sqm, which is sufficiently large for a church. But we wanted to make the most use of the precious land provided to meet the many needs of the villagers now & into the future.
The church hall is large enough to accommodate up to 100 visitors, but it is also directly connected to the open area allowing for larger crowds to be accommodated. A lockable garage for four cars was requested, however, this can also be adapted into a classroom or medical aid office when parking is not needed. The site has also been planned to allow the buildings to be constructed independently, providing flexibility to change and expand.
Due to the remote location of Sek Sak, there is limited access to building technology and materials. Villagers and local labourers are only equipped with basic construction skills and local knowledge to construct our design. Our design would need to utilise natural materials, such as bamboo and earth, as well as readily available materials to allow the design to be buildable. With limited access to electricity, the design must also cool the buildings passively, which will be integral in a tropical, humid climate like Cambodia.
By developing the design proposal in collaboration with the Church & providing clear drawings & documentation, the Church was able to communicate the project to donors & have secured funding to begin constructing the project. Even though the final design has been altered, we are proud to have supported the Church to realise this important project for the community.
Want to learn more about our design process for this project? Click on the Pitch Deck below.
We specialise in developing creative and innovative design solutions to Social Issues across multiple design disciplines. By providing the design tools to the people most impacted by Social Issues, they can lead us to the best solutions.
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