Church on the Move (Tulsa, OK) is currently renovating their facilities. In a recent building campaign update, Hank Spieker of Selser Schaefer Architects explains an interesting design decision to make a cozier feeling auditorium by randomly varying chair colors with gold (66%), scarlet (11%), purple (11%), and black fabrics (11%).

The idea is that whenever you are in the auditorium that it will always feel full. It will never appear like there are a bunch of empty seats anywhere.

Varying chair colors is a great design theory for large churches with multiple service times. For most of these churches, popular service times are packed while less attended service times can leave the auditorium looking sparse.

For more thoughts from Hank Spieker, go to the 4:55 mark on the following video:

For Discussion:
- What are some of your favorite architectural design tricks?