Success in a church building program isn’t found in the brick, stone or steel. Rather, it is found in the solid relationships formed when people are united by a common purpose, working together in harmony to achieve their goal. The best way to achieve this definition of success is to establish clear and effective communication between the church, the architect and the builder at a very early stage in the relationship. To do so, some architects use a time-honored architectural method known as a "charrette."

Charrette is a term that is derived from French architecture students. During the early 1800s, students in Paris needed to rush their design drawings to their school, the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts. They placed them on a cart called a charrette, which was then taken to the Ecole. Over time, the meaning of the term was expanded to include any short-term student design project. Today, the word describes any intense design effort that takes place over a short time period.

Charrettes can save churches money by eliminating the need to rework the design during construction. In addition, abrupt last minute changes lead to resentment and frustration when one ministry has to give up space or facilities to accommodate a change.

The type of building project determines who will attend the charrette, but it usually involves the church client, the design team, and construction-cost experts. The church should bring key decision-makers involved in the project, including applicable staff members, building committee members and lay leadership. The creative process is facilitated by bringing together everyone involved in a project and encouraging participation. When the key personnel are together, sharing ideas and talking them out, a highly focused, creative atmosphere is created that is best described as visual brainstorming. This helps to develop solutions and solve specific problems in a limited time period. By bringing all the relevant parties into the process early, relationships among all of the decision-makers can be established.

The location of the charrette is important. Off-site meeting locations have obvious benefits. In addition, the more flexible the charrette space and the more technology that can be brought into the charrette, the more productive the process will be. Our company typically uses its training facility, as it’s specifically suited for the charrette process.

A charrette can take place over one to three days, depending on the size and scope of the project. There are elements common to all charrettes, regardless of the duration:

• Vision casting by the senior pastor or other church staff member in charge
• Brainstorming of "wish list"
• Executive summary of situation analysis by designer
• Master-planning discussion
• Physical layout of scale building footprints on site map
• Selection of one or to two strategies to more fully develop
• Square-footage-based cost estimates
• Action plan

Everyone leaves the charrette with an understanding of the direction for the project and what to expect next.

After the charrette, the design team puts together a booklet that summarizes the agreed-upon plans and ideas. When important decisions need to be made later in the process, the booklet is referred to so that everyone is speaking, literally, from the same page.