Valley Presbyterian Church (VPC) of Paradise Valley, AZ was constructed in the 1960’s with a mid century modern design. With a spacious property, VPC was looking to support a contemporary service within the existing sanctuary. However, they were faced with a large acoustical hurdle. VPC sat down with Jones Studio, project architect, and shared the conflict they were trying to overcome. Jones Studio enlisted the services of acoustical and media systems consulting firm McKay Conant Hoover (MCH). The MCH team comprised Principal in Charge David Conant, who oversaw the project, with Taylor Blaine as project manager for acoustics. Randy Willis and the late Kyle Ridenour shared responsibilities for the media systems. Ultimately, the entire scope of audiovisual along with acoustical treatments were installed by Clearwing Systems Integration.
To overcome the acoustical realities of the facility, along with creating a truly immersive acoustical experience, a Meyer Sound Constellation System was specified and installed due to its acoustic enhancement capabilities. The Constellation System consists of 97 MM-4XP loudspeakers, 16 MM-10XP miniature subwoofers, and 11 Ashby 5C ceiling loudspeakers. Ambient room sound is captured by 28 DPA SC4098 Microphones, and processed by Meyer’s D-Mitri processor. A Crestron control system allows Constellation presets to be recalled, and a local web portal allows the creation and adjustment of presets by the end user.
To mix primary sources, an Allen & Heath dLive C2500 surface with a CDM48 engine was provided and integrated with a owner provided JBL VRX constant curvature system. A Q-Sys Core 110f serves as the main DSP for the reinforcement system, feeding Crown amplification.
To compliment the Constellation System, VPC also chose to install an immersive video system. Projecting high definition video art onto the house left and right walls. This was achieved by 5 Christie Digital D20WU-HS 20,600 lumen DLP HS Series laser-source projectors, each housed in an acoustically sealed and climate controlled projection chamber to minimize additions to the room’s noise floor. The projected graphics are processed with Scalable Displays' Scalable Desktop blending software operating on a custom-built PC.
All video is distributed throughout the facility by an IP based Crestron NVX system, which allows easy routing of sources to destinations via the Crestron control system. ProPresenter, and Resolume software allow VPC’s team to display imagery themed for the musical elements, song lyrics, church announcements, sermon notes during the message portion of the service, and class notes for educational events occurring midweek. Panasonic PTZ cameras with a controller, as well as a manually operated Panasonic camcorder allow the church to live stream their services.
Clearwing not only installed the audiovisual systems, but also the acoustic treatments that supported the new design direction. The ceiling is covered by alternating lines of black acoustic Theater Board and white muslin banners. 117 - 3” thick, 4’ x 8’ Theater Board panels installed from the existing wood ceiling boards absorb the sound. The four different sizes of banners break up the sound and has the added benefit of drawing the eye away from the other ceiling elements. 335 yards of inherently flame-retardant Poly Muslin was delivered to Clearwing and sewn in the warehouse into 183 banners complete with a top pocket for a support rod and weight sewn into the bottom to keep the banners taught.
The architectural design called for new vertical wood slat elements around the seating areas. The existing walls were concrete, so sound absorption was also needed behind the slats. Clearwing added another 198, 2” thick Theater Board panels from the floor to 10’-0” up the walls. To hide the panel seams, 280 yards of Guilford of Maine Anchorage fabric was horizontally stretched over the panels and then the vertical wood slats were installed. The simple part of the acoustic design was two walk along 32oz, 100% fullness drapes on ADC tracks located behind the Chancel area and between the Foyer and the Sanctuary.
Additionally, 6 ETC ColorSource Pearl Ellipsoidals, 10 ETC ColorSource Ellipsoidals, 4 ColorSource Relay with Wireless Receivers, and 1 ColorSource Wireless DMX Transmitters were installed for platform performer lighting.