Is Interior Design Important for Your Church?

by | Nov 4, 2021 | Design-Build, Facilities, Leadership, Podcasts

Interior design isn’t just about paint colors and furniture. There’s so much more to designing interior spaces and there’s a reason to do it well. Listen in as Jodi Otto from National Community Church and David Shanks from Shanks Architects discuss what interior design is, the challenges churches face when doing it well, and what you should consider when designing interior spaces.

Meet David and Jodi

Guest Speaker: David Shanks

David Shanks is a recognized leader in church planning and design and has led strategic planning and design teams for many dynamic and growing churches across America. Utilizing his firm’s strategic and master planning methodologies, and drawing on his interests in contextual urban planning and societal trends, David has designed suburban campuses as well as urban facilities to maximize the church’s effectiveness in reaching the surrounding community. An avid sketch artist, David uses his talent to better “see” and ingrain into his memory images of our current world as well as the world of concepts, invention and dreams. David worked as the Director of Design at HH Architects from 1995 to 2006, and was President of the company during his last four years there. David is now President of Shanks Architects, a company he started in 2006.

Guest Host: Jodi Otto

Jodi is the First Impressions and Connections Director at National Community Church in Washington, DC. By day, Jodi is passionate about setting the stage for all who walk through the doors at church so they can encounter Jesus. By night, Jodi organizes. As the CEO of Clarity & Co, she works to help the disorganized become transformed visually, physically, and mentally through the power of efficient spaces.

Jodi’s experience coordinating hundreds of events for thousands of people, leading a multi-cultural team of hundreds of individuals at a multisite church weekly, working in the service industry for years, and starting up her own business has made her passionate about guest experiences. In the church, home, and the business world, she has developed tools, trainings, and strategies to help create memorable moments and a consistently excellent experience for guests.

Jodi is a former Michigander but has called DC home for nearly a decade, reads books about organization for fun, comes alive when she’s watching the sunrise in the Shenandoah, rejuvenates when she’s in nature and hiking, enjoys gathering people around her dinner table in her new home, and if you’re familiar with Myers-Briggs, she’s a textbook E/ISFJ.

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