Eagle Brook Church

Eagle Brook Church – Anoka

Main lobby and gathering space inside the Eagle Brook Anoka entry.
Before and after exterior comparisons of the Eagle Brook Church Anoka campus.
Exterior entry where the building was pushed back to make space for outdoor gathering.
Floor plan comparisons showing the difference in circulation cross-flows between EBC Anoka and Blaine.
Eagle Brook Church Anoka
Eagle Brook Church Anoka
Eagle Brook Church Anoka
Eagle Brook Church Anoka
A diagram shows how the worship area is arranged with the floor plan.
Eagle Brook Church Anoka
Eagle Brook Church Anoka
Exterior view of the entrance and gathering space for Eagle Brook Anoka.

Eagle Brook Church

Eagle Brook Church – Anoka

Anoka, Minn.

Eagle Brook Church is Minnesota’s largest church organization — and growing. While Eagle Brook has welcomed its growth spurt, it also meant that the Spring Lake Park and Blaine campuses were overflowing, sometimes with hundreds of people attending services in the lobbies outside of the worship spaces. Following site studies to determine where a sixth permanent campus should be located, Eagle Brook pursued an adaptive reuse project for the first time: transforming a vacant K-Mart building into a worship center.

Renovations were focused around Eagle Brook’s welcoming, community atmosphere. A portion of the building’s front face was demolished to make way for outdoor green space that includes an entry plaza, walking paths, a playground, and bicycle parking. The communal values continue into the entry’s generous gathering space, complete with a coffee shop and new lounge seating options. The kids’ education wing follows Eagle Brook’s brightly colored branding to energize young members of the church, yet is also designed with the latest safety and security measures.

For the 1,000-seat auditorium, part of the floor slab was removed to create a “bowl” of tiered auditorium seating. To minimize columns within the worship space, the existing structure was converted to long-span. A small portion of vacant space remains available at the rear of the building to accommodate future growth.

Size: 60,000 sq. ft.

Components: 1,000-seat auditorium; Cafe 5000 coffee shop with varied lounge seating; classrooms; separate kids’ education and worship spaces; childcare for infants and toddlers

Completion: 2017

Pete Smith (retired)
Craig Peterson
Sara Goenner Curlee
Peter Deutz
Allen Hoglund (retired)
Dave Leighly
Lisa Miller
James Nutt
Stephanie Reem
Richard Stuerman