Page 31 - Winter 2011

congregation, and as the sermon begins, it can be dialed all the way down so that it doesn't interfere with the message.
To make the venue capable of originating the church’s tel- evision broadcasts, a variety of new control and production spaces were needed. The ministry’s media center is located on the fifth floor of a 100,000 sq. ft. addition to the existing com- plex. The facility includes three audio suites, eight edit suites, a graphic suite, and production control rooms for broadcast video and audio. The audio suites are used during post pro- duction and recording of choirs, rhythm tracks, and soloists.
According to Reed Hall, director of audio and technical production and production manager for Joel Osteen Ministries, “The facility now sounds like a well-behaved the- ater, with live broadcast audio and recording technology that surpasses any major network’s late-night TV production. Having produced shows in arenas all across the country, I can say that this is one of the most intimate-sounding there is. The results are stunning, and everyone is very pleased with the room.” Hall continues, “Even though this was a 16,000 seat arena, it was our desire for the room to provide an inti- mate experience for every seat. For the size of the sanctuary I think we have achieved that in part with closeness of the seats to the platform, lighting, and the acoustics, bringing the visu- al closer with the IMAG (Image Magnification system). Dropping the low frequency reverb times from eleven sec- onds to three seconds was a big part of that.”
The reason that Lakewood Church was successful in making this transition from arena into worship space was their vision in bringing together people who are experts in their individual fields and putting the team into an environ- ment of collaboration. This meant everybody could keep their eye on the end goal and have the time and the back- and-forth necessary to actually develop the solutions required to create an appropriate result. With all of the chal- lenges involved in this project, fundamental teamwork ended up being a necessary ingredient in getting the job done.AT
Fig. 6. One of the waterfalls is seen just below the large projection screen. The other waterfall is a mirror image of this one.
Fig. 4. By using existing return air slots as tuned Helmholtz absorbers, the return air plenum system reduced the low frequency reverberation time of the space. The new plenum also addressed fire separation and sound isolation issues between the sanc- tuary and occupied lobby levels
good idea to put waterfalls in a building, particularly not right next to a stage. It's not good for the microphones, it affects the sound, its noisy, it introduces moisture and chem- icals into the environment, there's a chance that it will leak or that it won't work—but it looks really good.
The waterfalls were one more example of how proper design and coordination can mitigate potentially disruptive issues. The solution was to adjust the water flow rate based on the progression of the service. As people enter the building, the sound of the rushing water is a soothing welcome to the
Fig. 5. Reverberation time measurements made in the sanctuary before and after renovations to the space.
From Sports Arena to Sanctuary 27