Horizon Christian School - Tualatin, Oregon
By: Jennifer Walker - Journey
It was the fall of 1999 when Stan Russell, senior pastor of Grace Community Church, first heard the call to build a high school to glorify God’s name. It was a tall order, and even Pastor Russell himself had to question the notion. But, he had faith.
Established in 1975, the church began an elementary school in 1981. Pastor Russell knew that to expand the existing school and offer more grades to more students would not come cheap. But he kept faith, and, miraculously, two weeks after God first spoke to him, he was approached by a family whose children had attended the school. The family member asked, “What would you do if I gave you $600,000 as a matching fund donation?” Pastor Russell took the offer to church leadership and, after soulful prayer, told the donor they would use the funds to “build a high school where the Bible would be central and where Jesus’ name would be lifted up.”
That night, Pastor Russell was praying with his son about the blessing from the generous donor when his phone rang. It was the family member. He said he and his wife had prayed about the donation and decided to increase their offer to a $1 million matching fund.
Church leadership quickly moved forward with plans to build the school and hired David Bissett Architecture, a multi-disciplinary architectural firm based in Portland, to design a master plan that spanned years into the future.
The firm’s president and principal architect, David Bissett, listened to the pastor’s vision for the school, which would be named Horizon Christian School. One of the first steps was identifying land on which to build the new campus. Working with Bissett, school leadership purchased about 45 acres just south of Portland in a community called Tualatin. The once-agricultural community of about 750 residents had grown in the past 30 years to a bustling suburban community of nearly 25,000 with a mix of residential, commercial business, and manufacturing land uses.
The church bought and sold plots adjacent to the land until it had a nice reticular parcel on which to build its campus. Meanwhile, Bissett began to fine-tune the master plan. Realistically, Bissett said, a master plan should be flexible enough to change as the school’s needs change over the years. But, the initial layout would provide a framework from which the architect could then step back and fill in with specific phases to meet individual goals for the school from classrooms to athletic facilities.
As he worked with church leadership to develop the plan, Bissett says he began to realize that the new campus was not meant to be was a conventional church or Christian school. It was meant to serve a dual purpose as both a learning environment for students as well as a worship center for the church. The first phase would be the premiere multipurpose facility in the area. Yet, the other phases would not dim in comparison. They, too, would be grand, offering the highest-quality educational, athletic, and ministry programs.
Something else resonated with Bissett as he talked with church leadership.
“The theme that they expressed to me was ‘excellence without opulence,’” Bissett said.
Space needed to be specifically planned so that every area had a purpose, and materials needed to be of the best quality so that the building would last over time with few maintenance needs. But the design shouldn’t be fussy or cute. It needed to blend with the community so that it would be welcoming and warm.
As Bissett focused on the details, church leadership began a three-pronged approach to secure the funding or the campus, raising money through church members, private donors, and foundations and grants.
As fundraising efforts moved forward, Bissett worked to get the necessary building and zoning permits, which was a challenge, as the campus was annexed by the city during the construction process. Coordinating and negotiating city and county jurisdictions for building permits and inspections was an exhausting task, but it enabled Bissett to establish relationships to make getting those items for future phases much smoother.
By June 2003, Horizon held a groundbreaking ceremony for its first building and set to work on the construction. The two-story, 48,000-square-foot multipurpose facility includes classrooms for the dual purpose of providing classrooms for the private and youth meeting space for the church. Some rooms were designed larger to allow small group activities. An assembly area serves as both a gym to school students as well as the sanctuary and fellowship area for the church. A nursery area serves as a daycare during the week and a nursery during worship services. The building also has space for administrative offices, bathrooms, mechanical rooms, locker rooms, and work areas. The building can accommodate up to 400 students, but the master plan will allow for nearly 1,000 more.
The main building serves high school students and a bottom-floor childcare center offers daycare for children ages 3 and older. Three portable buildings were added to the campus to house the middle school. A converted pole barn serves as the school’s athletic training center and includes an indoor weight training facility, baseball training area, and obstacle course.
The interior was designed to with common areas and natural relief areas built to encourage fellowship and informal communication. Hallways were made wider, and generous windows were used to invite natural light.
For the exterior, Bissett captured the rural sense of the community. The focus was on simplicity of shape and size using cost-effective, efficient, durable materials. For example, the building was designed with a broad, sloping metal roof and concrete tilt-wall construction, both of which offer long-lasting strength with low maintenance as well as a distinct style.
In September 2006, Horizon Christian High School opened its doors to 78 ninth-, tenth- and eleventh-graders. Since then, the school’s growth has been steady. High school enrollment is up to 112 and middle school enrollment is 76.
The school anticipates continued growth. Future phases include the construction of a middle school classroom building, a sports center with a football/track & field stadium, education/ministry/gym space and a computer/science building, a fine arts building and indoor sports practice facility, an administration building, and a sanctuary.
David Bissett Architecture maintains a local base of operation in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area with regional projects, as well as numerous clients operating nationally and internationally, www.dbaarch.com.
