When Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, California wanted to tell the story of its ministry in a meaningful way, they had a lot of history to work with. Our job was to take decades of information, photographs, milestones, people, ministries, and vision and turn it into one cohesive experience.
The result was an 80-foot custom church history timeline wall that stretches through a major interior space at the church. But getting from decades of history to a finished 80-foot wall took quite a bit more than simply designing a large graphic. An 80-foot wall isn’t an 80-foot blank canvas. There are doors, electrical outlets, fire alarms and other architectural elements that cannot simply disappear because they are inconvenient for the design. Before designing the final artwork, we had to carefully account for where those elements landed along the wall. That meant planning the layout so an outlet didn’t end up in the middle of someone’s face, a fire alarm didn’t cover important text, and a doorway didn’t slice through a photograph or major part of the story. With an installation this large, being off by even a few inches early in the layout can create a much bigger problem 40, 60 or 80 feet down the wall. Every section had to work individually while also lining up as part of one continuous installation.
We also wanted the wall to have visual rhythm rather than becoming one long strip of dates and photographs. Large silicone edge graphics help divide the timeline into major sections and recognize important people in the church’s history. Historical photography, ministry images, architectural renderings, mission work, significant events and written stories are layered throughout the installation. As the timeline reaches the present, the focus naturally begins to shift toward where Calvary Community Church is headed next. That creates something we especially like about this project: the wall doesn’t just document where the church has been. It connects its history to its future.
We were grateful for the opportunity to help Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, California bring its story to life across this incredible 80-foot installation
