This site has been the headquarters of The Apostolic Church of Queensland for 120 years and continues use as the religious and cultural centre of the Southern District of the Church. The precinct is used on every Sunday, for all of the Christian festivals and for many other religious and social functions throughout each year. The Hatton Vale Cathedral project was proposed primarily as a means of accommodating the growing numbers of worshippers but has also addressed the entire site planning to enhance the arrival experience; to resolve circulation and to afford greater enjoyment of the entire precinct. Over 2200 worshippers can now be accommodated with 1105 seats added through this extension. The success and growth within this religion is attributed to adherence to the traditions of the Church. The brick Cathedral was designed by the renouned Dr. Karl Langer and completed in 1950 to replace the original 1880's timber structure. It represents by it’s style, materials, and well maintained fabric, this ‘tradition’. The extension thereto, though considerably larger in scope and accommodation, actually enhances and promotes rather than overpowers the original. This physical expression and the reuse of some demolished bricks at the main SE Entry embodies the religious teaching of the Church

in that the extension has addressed contemporary needs by modern means without detracting from the ‘traditional’ original. The new has taken the old and built upon same. The favoured car parking area is the ‘forest’. A new porte cochere, simply an extension of the dappled light through a leafy forest canopy links the forest and other arrival areas with the entry concourse. Passage is thence through the ‘greeting’ space adjacent the Vestry and centrally within the concourse, to the bandstand and grass terrace between Cathedral and Hall. The Cathedral is now a focus of all activities on the site rather than simply a place to go for worship. Building form and function centres on the preaching position - the focus of each Service. The new interior spaces are of elegant and austere expression to allude to the simple form and colour of the original interior. Embellishment and richness of the interior spaces is achieved via the abundance of worshippers rather than simply by the fabric used. The project comprises porte cochere; concourse linking all new spaces; two worship spaces linked to the Altar and physical centre via new openings in the side walls of the original structure; a large Vestry also serving as a meeting room; cry rooms; amenities and bandstand.