Mile Hi Church Opens New Sanctuary

Designed to seat 1,500, the dome-shaped sanctuary is the third and largest structure on the Mile Hi Church campus and the biggest domed building in the Denver metro region.

Photo courtesy of Mile Hi Church

Mile Hi Church of Lakewood will open the doors to a new 44,000-sq-ft, 1,500 seat sanctuary on April 6.

Designed to support the rapid expansion of the congregation, the monolithic dome-shaped building is the largest structure on the Mile Hi Church campus at 9077 W. Alameda Ave. in Lakewood, and the biggest domed building in the Denver metro region.

Designed by Fentress Architects of Denver to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient, the 60-ft-tall dome, which has a diameter of 232 ft, will take fewer natural resources to operate than a comparably sized traditional building.

Inflation of the dome took place in June, after which the fabric roof was insulated with polyurethane foam, reinforced with recycled structural steel and sprayed over with a 14-in.-thick concrete base.

The church also planted more trees than were removed and recycled asphalt from former parking lots as filler for the construction site.

The new building will provide Webcasting and television ability for global outreach and an event-sized stage designed to accommodate music and performing arts presentations of all sizes. These state-of-the-art features will also support the surrounding population, since the facility will also serve as a local community performing arts center. The existing sanctuary will be renovated to add needed classroom and meeting space.

Mile Hi Church is affiliated with United Centers for Spiritual Living. With more than 5,500 members, it has grown more than 24% in just three years. The church regularly provides the community with access to such speakers as Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Jack Canfield and Marianne Williamson.

Mortenson Construction of Denver served as the general contractor.

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