Church at the Red Door, Indio, CA

Church at the Red Door is a non-denominational church which evolved from a small Coachella Valley group meeting in private homes and baptizing hundreds in a backyard pool for over 20 years. The images are phase-one of a multi-phase campus Master Plan designed on an undeveloped site in Indio, CA. The building recalls the Valley’s Modernist architectural style and presents an open, truthful, and transparent worship center to the community. The glass walls and wide retractable doors remove the physical and thus the psychological barriers that first time visitors often find hard to cross. The result is a welcoming site design where one leaves their car behind to decompress while crossing a wooden bridge over an arroyo designed to collect and filter rainwater during the summer and winter storms. The main structure is composed of a Modern steel post and beam design, with a 4” deep perforated (for acoustics) metal deck which allows the thin roof profile. Wide overhangs and large outdoor covered patios along with sunshade louvers on the west elevation provide relief from the desert sun to the glass box below.