Absolutely fantastic review of the parallel trends in corporate and megachurch architecture, from Spurgeon's Crystal (preaching) Palace to the present. I found the comparison between Saddleback Church's campus and Google's headquarters especially intriguing . . . a reminder that all churches are themselves cultural artifacts, created within the horizons of possibility that a culture creates. But is it just my imagination or does American church architecture almost exclusively adopt, rather than encourage, architectural innovation? Mel McGowan, call your office!

re: architecture, business, churches, corporations

Andy:

The correspondences between the Googleplex and Saddleback are remarkable: Rigid building models were broken down into amorphous, disaggregated masses, screened from their parking lots by trees and artificial hills; both campuses include plush lounges, landscaped paths, beach-volleyball courts, and cafés (with “outdoor seating for sunshine daydreaming,” Google’s website boasts). The architecture is meant to persuade church members or secular employees—especially younger people—to spend their most productive time there. As Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said, “knowledge workers believe they are paid to be effective, not to work 9 to 5.”

It’s no coincidence that Saddleback mirrors the top office environments of its day. Warren was a good friend of [Peter] Drucker’s (the consultant died in 2005), and the books he has written for pastors quote Drucker liberally. Drucker, in turn, was so impressed with the business acumen of evangelical leaders that in 1998 he declared the megachurch “surely the most important social phenomenon in American society in the last 30 years.”