Sanctuary

Client

Life Church

Location

Mons QLD

Transcending the typical ‘big box’ approach, this project was conceived as a living sanctuary—responsive to its site, its people, and its role in uniting the Sunshine Coast community. It is both the new home for Life Church and the region’s first civic facility of its kind, able to host high-capacity entertainment events, corporate conventions, workshops, and community celebrations. From the outset, the design intent was clear: move beyond function alone, and create a place of belonging, intimacy, and connection.

Nestled against the edge of a bushland reserve, the building draws inspiration from its setting. Materiality is honest, tactile, grounded, and organic, natural spotted gum clads the entry and circulation spaces, feature signage hand-laid by local artisans echoes the same timbers, and quartzite stone is used with quiet strength to anchor key moments. The experience begins at the threshold, where hand-trowelled plaster under lays curved bulkheads, haloed by concealed lighting that creates both drama and welcome and draws the eye to the skies.

At the centre of the building lies the main auditorium, a state-of-the-art space seating around 790 people. Here, surfaces are deliberately darkened and recessive, allowing the message to take the stage. The built environment steps back so that what matters, the spoken word, music, and collective energy — can rise to the forefront. From this core, every other space radiates, mirroring the idea that the message itself is central.

Stepping into the café, the true heart of community life, a different kind of centrepiece is revealed. A 50-year-old olive tree, seated in hand-sourced quartzite stone and illuminated by a skylight echoing its form, becomes a living symbol of gathering. Around it, flexible furniture shifts to accommodate both large crowds and intimate encounters. The café counter, clad in stone and crowned with a champagne brass gantry, invites approach from every side — a considered design gesture that encourages openness and connection.

A workplace wing extends this ethos into the operational life of the organisation. Private offices, greenroom, a boardroom, and collaboration zones are woven together not as back-of-house functions, but as living parts of the community framework. To support orientation and flow, we developed custom wayfinding throughout the building, using tailored signage and cues to guide visitors intuitively and reinforce a crafted, place-specific interior identity. Everywhere, furniture and objects have been custom-sourced or made, using materials selected with purpose and care, giving each space its own sense of presence and detail.

Beyond the hum of conversation, circulation threads carry people through a series of spaces, each scaled to human experience. Children’s environments were approached with the same care as the civic spaces: for the youngest, soft floors and magnetic play walls offer tactile, exploratory play; for older children, modular furniture can be reconfigured as activities evolve, supporting collaboration, learning, and shared energy. The design ensures that every age finds its own sanctuary.

The parents’ room offers one of the most tender moments in the project. Acoustically treated and softly lit, with gentle curves, drapery, and upholstered seating, it is a place of calm and retreat. Private feeding rooms, wrapped in fabric and designed to cocoon, allow for privacy without isolation, spaces where parents can find a moment to themselves while remaining connected to the wider community.

The journey through the building is one of shifting scales: from the collective to the personal, from the dramatic to the tender. Every space invites pause, conversation, or connection. More than a building, it is a sanctuary that celebrates its place, serves its people, and creates moments of human scale within a setting that might otherwise have been anonymous. Here, the heartbeat is people.

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