In his book, “Church Property/Building Guidebook,” T. Lee Anderton asked, “Should the landscaped areas be the space left over after everything else is located?”
He quickly answered no and explained that “the key to successfully landscaped property lies in making wise decisions in locating the buildings, drives, parking, walks and play areas.”
Unfortunately, many church leaders overlook the important role of landscaping in enhancing the attractiveness and appeal of their church facilities, often completely omitting this aspect of construction, building experts say.
“A lot of people try to save money on landscaping and maintenance and don’t want to pay someone to maintain the outside of the building and in doing so they miss a lot of opportunities to make a good first impression,” said Gary Nicholson, a consultant in the LifeWay Christian Resources Church Architecture Department. “Saving a few dollars on maintenance costs or installation of landscaping can end up costing them the ability to reach many people.”
Gary Swafford, director of new work and church building services for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, concurred.
“Properly maintained church facilities give the message to the community that the people who go there are interested and are up-to-date and that their church is affecting their everyday lives,” he said.
Instead of cutting corners on landscaping after a construction budget is nearly depleted, building professionals urge church leaders to develop a master plan to help them create attractive well-designed buildings and grounds.
“A church should not wait until the building is completed, parking lots and walkways paved and exterior lighting installed to consider a landscaping plan,” noted Gwenn McCormick, author of “Planning and Building Church Facilities.” “In fact, master-site planning will address all these issues and provide adequately for them in the early stages of the planning process.”
On the other hand, just as good landscaping suggests the church’s interest and concern for the community at large … inadequate landscaping and unkept grounds can have a negative influence on people, he added. “They can suggest the church does not care about itself or others.”
According to Nicholson, this is evident as many churches neglect paving their parking lots which can make arrival a rather unpleasant experience. “It can put you in a bad mood before entering the church,” he added.
While advising church leaders during the building process, Swafford explains that there is more to landscaping than meets the eye.
“Landscaping is what we see and some engineering qualities that we don’t see like water drainage control and quality and arrangement of parking,” he said. “It is what provides the curb appeal to the church buildings.”
To create a welcoming environment for passersby and visitors, landscaping should be both beautiful and functional, Anderton added.
“The landscaping style or design should be harmonious with the style of architecture,” he said. “It should enhance the appearance of the building. When viewing a well-executed landscape or building design, it should be difficult to tell where the architect’s efforts and influence end and the landscape architect’s work begins.”
In addition to enhancing building design, good landscaping can bring harmony to otherwise distracting architectural features, according to McCormick.
“It can highlight major entrances and facilitate traffic flow,” he noted. “Planting islands can help direct traffic and define parking areas.”
When developing landscape designs, church leaders should also leave areas of land around buildings for lawns and planting.
“Some planting should be appropriately placed around and interspersed in parking lots,” Anderton noted. “This will screen vision of the lower parts of automobiles from the streets … (and) reduce the apparent size of the parking lot, but care must be taken in selecting planting materials that will not block the vision of drivers in critical locations.”
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