Kentwood Community Church
Kentwood, Michigan
Project Type: New Construction
Seat Count: 2,317
Opening: 1998
Architect: Goss/Pasma Architects
A/V Installation: Ancha Electronics
AD Scope: Audio & Acoustics
The new Celebration Center at Kentwood Community is part of a 64,000+ square foot addition to the church. The expansion hosts a variety of services from the high-energy Nightlife Service which features a contemporary rock format to more traditional Sunday morning services. Not only was the room’s versatility a priority, but the ministry staff at Kentwood wanted a design that would contribute to the feeling of community among the congregation and encourage participation.
AD created a reflector design throughout the ceiling to establish an intimate acoustic. The cones provide early reflections to the audience. Acoustics were further optimized by a slightly curved back wall to reduce the potential for late arriving reflections back to the stage. The room needed to be fairly live but at the same time offer a contemporary stage performance format. Acoustics were dealt with more by shaping than by putting in elaborate acoustic treatments. The end result was a mixture of church and theatrical styles.
A LCR (left/center/right) cluster design was utilized for the house sound system, because the room’s wide scope dictated wide coverage angles from the loudspeakers. One of the precepts of the design is that each cluster feed, be it left, center or right, must cover the entire room for consistent audio quality.
AD also handled video projection screen layout and configuration.
