Dear saints,

I am delighted to be able to share that All Saints’ has selected an architecture firm to partner with us through the first phase of the completion of our master plan. 

In mid-December of last year, our project management team, North Ave, initiated a Request for Proposals process for architecture firms to respond to. This process resulted in nine firms expressing an initial interest, six of whom submitted bids. From that, a shortlist of four firms were invited to meet with the Egleston Task Force last month. 


The objective of this stage of our work is to produce a costed design of an "Egleston Ministry Center" that will enable us to fulfill our program needs, including the relocation of the core ministries, while honoring the historic nature of the current Egleston building. As I detailed last week, the work ahead of us in that corner of the block requires us to address the significant damage Egleston Hall has suffered as well as its poor accessibility. We knew that we were looking for a firm with a depth of experience and expertise that would be able to rise to a particular constellation of 

challenges:

• To take a range of missional priorities - Music, Threads, Refugee Ministries, two non-profits partners (MAC and Covenant Community), and a large parish’s multi-faceted programs and ministries represented by a staff of 30 - and express those priorities within a single design.
  
• To engage a high-functioning congregation with a diverse array of robust viewpoints, passionate about both the past and the future of our church. 

• To craft an architectural concept that would express our vision for All Saints’ as a beacon of vitality and community in the midst of Midtown Atlanta’s thriving cityscape both now and into an increasingly secularizing century ahead of us.
  
• To help us faithfully honor the historic nature of our buildings while also being faithful stewards of the future of the church. 

Each short-listed firm offered outstanding presentations, offering a fascinating set of designs and process descriptions in response to our vision for the Egleston Ministry Center and the block as a whole. Weighing up the strength of each presentation alongside the quality and fit of their proposed multi-disciplinary teams, relevant experience, and the capacity of each firm to meet the varied demands of the project, the Egleston Task Force unanimously selected Perkins & Will to serve as our architects.

Perkins and Will was founded in 1935, and the firm has grown to become a global architecture and design firm with 33 studios worldwide, including one here in Atlanta which houses a 170+ person strong multi-disciplinary team. The Atlanta studio recently won an award for adaptive reuse of a warehouse building and site that was once home to the Atlanta Paper Company on the westside and is a recipient of the AIA Architecture Firm of the Year Award. What stood out most in their proposal was how thoroughly they had worked to understand All Saints’ and our vision not only for the Egleston Ministry Center but for the whole block. They offered us a people-first proposal and approach for what we believe is a people-first master plan that has the next several generations in mind both within and beyond this parish. We also felt that the breadth and quality of their team represented a depth of talent and experience that would serve All Saints’ exceptionally well. Perkins and Will also demonstrated a nuanced sensitivity with regards to the importance of Egleston Hall as an historical building and were able to walk us through similar recent projects they have led. We are excited to begin our work with them.

The first stage in the process begins this week as a team from Perkins and Will spends the afternoon with our staff and core ministries leaders. They are already busy at work, gathering a wide array of background documentation about Egleston Hall, from its original building plan to recent assessments of its structural integrity and needs, and will undertake a comprehensive survey of their own. 

The next step for the Egleston Task Force is to assess who might join the team as general contractors as we undergo a careful and thorough study of the possibilities and associated costs of various options for design. We will also be building on our collaboration with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation as we bring our team from Perkins and Will together with them to begin thinking through the design process with the Trust’s team of experts. 

As always we want to hear from you, so please do be in touch. In the coming weeks, the Egleston Task Force will engage with the parish to hear more of your input once they are ready to do so. In the meantime, they will be busy working with this outstanding team of professionals and I ask for you to hold them in your prayers with thanksgiving for the fantastic work they are offering to the life of this parish. 

Peace,