Resurrection Catholic Church
Lakeland, Florida | February 10, 2023
Introduction
Resurrection Catholic Church of Lakeland, Florida, is an active parish within a diverse community. Serving more than 2,000 families in its congregation with 50+ ministries, the church is a bustling place every day of the week. In order to better serve its growing congregation, church leadership set out to build a new, larger facility. The building project proved to be a massive undertaking, from the various factors that had to be considered such as Catholic tradition and regulations, as well as the ever-demanding budget, to the development of a design befitting the church in context of the Lakeland community.
The Story
Resurrection Catholic Church’s construction project began with unique design ideas that would require creative implementation. Notably, the designer of the church envisioned the exterior of the facility to include a bold, three-dimensional metal section that would extend out from the main wall to add sculptural-like structure to the building’s facade. To make this artful protrusion have contrast in color and texture to the church’s primary facade, the building designer originally specified it be covered in copper. However, after receiving the estimates, the project team determined real copper was just too expensive.
Stirling Shupe, principal of SAS Custom Tile and a lead participant on the church project, had to get creative once it was determined copper was cost prohibitive. Additionally, he needed to find a solution that would help achieve the designer’s vision to make the structure with all different angles and no straight lines. He contacted his distributor representative, Mark Horton, who came to the table with a viable alternative that would provide the look of copper and durability required yet be more affordable: Crossville Porcelain Tile Panels by Laminam.
The team reviewed samples of Laminam by Crossville’s Oxide Moro with Custom’s Fusion Pro grout and Schulter corner pieces. The look of these materials offered the warm metallic appearance as initially envisioned for the project. Next, the team had to figure out a method for applying the porcelain tile panels to achieve the very specific structural requirements. The first drawings were made with the presumption that 5’ pieces of solid copper would be used to construct the distinct angles and no straight lines, so the team had to modify the design to accommodate the 39” Laminam panels to achieve the desired effect. The extreme angles were very challenging to create, but ultimately, the framers were able to float the panels into much cleaner angles than copper would have allowed.
“The possibilities with the Laminam panels are endless as long as you think outside the box and can be creative,” said Shupe. “Crossville has been great to work with, and I turn to them any time I need tile, especially panels.”
Conclusion
Completed in March 2017, the Resurrection Catholic Church building is a highly recognizable place in the Lakeland community. Hopefully parishioners throughout Central Florida find that stunning exterior that was beautifully crafted with care is a reflection of the caring environment they will find inside for years to come.
