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Designing places of worship requires a great deal of sensitivity and insight.

A single building may be required to deliver different forms of worship, even on the same day, ranging from traditional liturgical services through to contemporary forms of worship with multimedia capabilities.

We understand that the building needs to enhance the spiritual experience, rituals and religious identity of the congregation as well as support the sense of community.

We’ve worked with more than 50 faith-based communities to date, providing them with flexible, comfortable environments that inspire spiritual reflection.

Spaces to grow community

Some of our Churches & Community projects

Kellyville

Kellyville Adventist Church

The Seventh Day Adventist Church has a strong on-going relationship with Stanton Dahl; with the Kellyville Adventist Church being a new project in a growing church community.

Type of project:

Church

Status:

Completed

Budget:

$6m

From the outset, this project adopted a collective ambition approach. This has resulted in the stated ambition of connecting the Kellyville Adventist Church community to each other, to the adjacent school and to the wider neighbouring community of which they are a part of.

The facilities that were developed for the site include worship spaces, child, teen and youth facilities as well as spaces for kinder and crèche.

Neutral Bay

St Augustine’s Anglican Church

To undertake alterations and additions to the existing heritage listed St. Augustine’s Anglican church to provide a welcoming, safe and connected environment for the whole church community.

Type of project:

Alterations and additions

Status:

Completed

Budget:

$1.9m

The collective ambition for this project was to build an environment that would encourage and support the “building of relationships within the church community with their Lord and Saviour and with one another as a community of Christ”. This ambition was used to measure the strength and veracity of the design decisions made against use and budget throughout the project.

The new alterations and additions to the church included a new entry courtyard,  foyer and circulation hub to connect the existing two-storey heritage church with the existing post war church hall. It also includes the construction of a first floor addition for church ministry within the church hall and the general refurbishment of the church hall for its use as a Early childhood centre during the week, and for church functions and Sunday school over the weekend.

The aim of the project was to address a lack of site entry, invitation and welcome, serious WHS and accessibility issues and lack of flexibility. In the works undertaken, the site has become prominent, safe and welcoming, connecting the existing buildings while maintaining the visual integrity and heritage of the church and fulfilling the collective ambition for the project.

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Churches & Community Team

Phillip Stanton Dahl

Phillip Stanton

Director

While an architect’s role is to objectively analyse a client’s needs using ‘outside eyes’, Phillip’s work as a client prior to founding what became Stanton Dahl in 1984 has given him an acute perspective from both sides of the fence.

Developed over many years and honed on hundreds of buildings, his ability to develop design solutions that serve the priorities of both the client as well as the building’s users is almost intuitive and continues to inspire the practice to this day.

Phillip became a Registered Architect in 1974. He joined the Property Dept of the Commonwealth Bank, rising to 2IC in the Major Projects Division where memorable milestones including securing the bank’s support in the early 1980’s for his plans relating to the total refurb of its property 48 Martin Place at a budget in excess of $125m.

Over the past 35 years in private business, he has grown Stanton Dahl Architects from a single-practitioner business to the significant enterprise with over 40 staff it is today.

Shayne Evans Stanton Dahl

Shayne Evans

CEO

Combining his passion for design, obsession to serve the needs of our clients and management skills, Shayne leads the practice into its next 35 years.

As a lead architect, Shayne has extensive experience in the design, documentation and administration of projects ranging from high-end residential work to low-cost schools. Several of the projects that Shayne has worked on have won national design awards and he relishes maintaining a hands-on role in Stanton Dahl’s significant design projects.

Shayne has a keen interest in using his skills to assist disadvantaged communities achieve high quality built environments without having to spend a lot of money. To that end Shayne spends some of his time providing architectural services to such communities.

This provides many opportunities to identify and implement creative and low cost solutions to some very complex problems.

Caroline Hart

Caroline Hart

Principal

Caroline has over 19 years of local experience in the architectural design, documentation and construction with the last 13 years devoted to the development of quality educational and ecclesiastical buildings at Stanton Dahl Architects. In 2015, Caroline became head of the Stanton Dahl Education Sector and leads a team of 15 staff.

Through Caroline’s involvement in the education sector she has developed a passion for developing community and learning environments that support and encourage the social, educational and spiritual wellbeing of the users. Caroline is specifically interested in the delivery of environments that support all areas of school life from pedagogical outcomes & staff professional development to community development, identity, engagement and support.

Since joining Stanton Dahl in 2006, Caroline has established herself as a trusted and knowledgeable expert in the field of school architecture.

Strapline Testimonial
  • “Stanton Dahl brought a deep level of experience in the design of our social and affordable housing programme for BaptistCare”

    Greg Philips, Project Director

  • “respectful of limited resources but also desirous of achieving the best outcomes”

    St Augustine’s Anglican Church

  • “challenging us and providing insight”

    Thomas Hassall Anglican College

  • “innovative design possibilities in the educational sphere”

    Seventh Day Adventist Schools

  • “good communicators. great design outcomes”

    Thomas Hassall Anglican College

  • “without doubt the most enjoyable projects”

    Denham Constructions