Highwood Fellowship
Type: Institutional - Non-Profit
Location: Highwood, IL
Size: 1200 SF
Status: Completed 2025
Team: Studio Becker Xu - Architecture & Interiors
Zak Rose - Millwork Fabrication
In this renovation for a community church, an uninviting basement corridor becomes a place for spirited assembly. This sub-grade leftover space inside a repurposed church was not meeting the community’s needs, socially nor spatially. Two structural columns punctuating the space and a disjointed ceiling of varying heights made for an inconvenient place to gather.
In its reincarnation, the once-residual hall celebrates its eccentricities. Columns that interrupt become furniture that attracts. Felt forms animate the room while providing warmth and dampening sound. A unifying green circle reflecting Ordinary Time of the liturgical calendar marks a zone to be activated throughout the year for small group readings & discussions, celebratory events, and shared community meals.
