Published August 15, 2019
Extending a unique internship
Sparks Reed staff plots expansion of a Texas church
Rendering of the proposed expansion, renovation of Trinity Baptist Church, Kerrville, Texas
Intern Taylor Rider heads back to school Monday in an unusual position. This Oklahoma State University student remains employed at Tulsa's Sparks Reed Architecture and Interiors, with an Aug. 24 client presentation in Kerrville, Texas.
This reflects one of the surprising benefits Rider found in his Sparks Reed summer internship.
"When I came into this, I was expecting to have to do a lot of detail work, like detailing stairs —kind of the grunt work," said Rider, 22, who plans to graduate from OSU's School of Architecture in December. "That's what many of my friends faced in their internships. But at Sparks Reed, I actually got to work on my own project."
Kerrville's Trinity Baptist Church worships in three buildings raised at different elevations across its 69-year history. With three services plus small group meetings each Sunday morning, the growing membership often faces congestion and traffic problems.
"They have a lot of bottleneck issues, people finishing Sunday School and going to worship while others are getting out of worship," said Rider. "We've been trying to free up some room for them to get around better and to give them some additional room where they can meet."
Sparks Reed assigned Rider to work with Trinity, along with principal David Reed and project architect Bryan Broaddrick.
"I was able to interact with the client and control some big parts of the design," said Rider. "I thought that was pretty cool."
“Taylor has been a great addition to the team,” said Reed. “He has really jumped in on a complex project and has done a wonderful job.”
Sparks Reed's proposal would nearly double the church's brick and mortar while easing Trinity's accessibility and providing worshipers new gathering places.
"We're taking a trip on Aug. 24-25 to present this in front of the congregation," said Rider. "We have been meeting a lot with the board of the church and with the design/build team, Masters Plan, on helping them figure out all the loose ends."
He expects to take this up again when he finishes school.
"David has mentioned that when I get back, this will continue to be my project," Rider said with a smile
“We are very excited for Taylor to join our team fulltime after graduation in December,” said Reed.