Grace Fellowship Church chose to renovate an existing furniture warehouse for their new facility. Although a renovation was more cost efficient than new construction, the initial design concept presented budget problems for the church. AD worked with the architect to modify the design of the worship center to provide an environment more supportive of the church's worship style. The revised design also resulted in a lower construction cost with better functionality.

In our original meetings with the church to establish the design criteria, we found that it was very important to have an environment that would support both high quality vocal and dramatic presentation, while not compromising the sense of community vital to the growth and success of Grace Fellowship Church.

This was accomplished by minimizing the extent of sound absorptive treatments in the congregational seating area. No sound absorption at all was provided on the ceiling (which was the underside of the roof deck) above the congregational seating area. Above the platform, considerable sound absorption was provided. We also provided for sound absorptive treatments around the performance platform. This created a very controlled acoustical environment for the contemporary praise band, without compromising the more lively acoustical environment for the congregation.

Other challenges addressed included cost-effective mechanical systems designed for low background noise, and adequate isolation between the worship space and other program spaces directly adjacent to the worship space. Techniques, such as the use of open-ended ducts and special seals where the new walls met the corrugated roof deck, were employed to meet the stringent acoustical criteria at minimal cost.

Due to the extreme width of the wrap around seating (an element which supports the visual community of the room) and the modest budget, we decided to design a high-quality mono system consisting of front fills and sub-bass speakers under the stage and three separate clusters over the stage front. A ring of high-quality delay speakers completes the coverage to the room.