Wheaton Bible Church
Wheaton, IL
Seat Count: 2,400
Project Type: New Construction
Project Completion: July 2008
Architect: Walter C. Carlson Associates
AD Scope: Acoustics, Audio, Video,
Lighting, Distributed A/V
Wheaton Bible decided that is was time to move to a larger building in order to continue to support their current multi-ethnic congregation and grow their mission to be a “world church” in which international guests will feel at home. Their goal for the new facility was to inspire a sense of worship upon entering.
AD’s scope of work included detailed acoustical analysis, and input on wall and ceiling shaping. Construction of the main Sanctuary (West Worship Center) was initially planned in two phases. This presented a challenge in that major changes to the volume of the room, extent of exposed wall areas, etc. would impact the acoustic signature of the space. In the end, the phases were merged, but the initial design challenges relating to the process had already been overcome. A further acoustical challenge was that both the West and East Worship Center needed to support both contemporary and traditional worship services, which have two very different acoustical needs. Instrumentation for the contemporary service is a small band with brass, a vocal team or praise ensemble and the traditional service utilizes a small orchestra with organ, piano and choir. The church uses drama in all services and video projection for song lyrics, sermon support and video clips.
Additionally, they required a basic A/V studio to support video production for the West Worship Center as well as in-house production capability to help with sermon support for worship, youth and children’s programs, and possible future internet webcasting. AD also designed systems for the 630-seat East Worship Center which is used primarily for the Hispanic worship service. This space will also host presentations and conferences and required adjustable acoustics to accommodate the broad range of uses. Other spaces included the 210-seat chapel and multi-purpose Fellowship Hall that needed audio, video, lighting and acoustics consulting services.
