Elation lights Florida’s Orangewood Church
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The Presbyterian church in Orange County is affiliated with Orangewood Christian School and both church and school share a number of facilities, including a gymnasium, which, on Sundays, doubles as a sanctuary. The space housed an older system of incandescent lights originally designed to light sports and other school activities, a setup that proved increasingly unsatisfactory for the church’s needs.
Pagan, an independent lighting designer, works at the church part time programming lighting for Sunday services and events. He comments, “The coverage from the incandescent lights was really dark and blotchy throughout the house. Our technical director, Chris Russell, was approached by the team about what could be done and Chris and I worked on what solutions were available. Once we saw how much power we would save with LED, we knew that was the way to go.
“I wanted the worship experience for the congregation to feel more immersive and bring people into what is happening on stage,” Pagan said.
The lighting designer researched possible solutions and visited churches in the area with dynamic house lighting systems to see the impact first hand. He then contacted PRG and talked with company sales rep Martee Nuruddin. “He helped us look at solutions and demo products. We also did a comparative shootout and in the end the Colour Pendant came out on top.” Nuruddin, who unexpectedly passed away in April, was a great help throughout the whole process, Pagan says.
Thirty Colour Pendant units were installed in the Orangewood Church sanctuary and although the LD was initially concerned that the seat risers might look blotchy with hotspots, the unit’s uniform flat-field output and 41° beam spread (66° field angle) allayed any worries. “I like how smooth the beam is and there is no hotspot whatsoever. It worked out perfectly. I also like the saturation of the colours,” Pagan adds while referencing the fixture’s RGBW colour system. “Usually, red is the weakest point on a fixture but the Colour Pendant produces a really nice red. The variable white also looks great for traditional house lighting.”
The colour system also allows the church to complement and colour match what is happening on stage whether it is a church service, musical performance or special event. “I’ve been able to match the house lights to all my other pre-existing colour palettes,” Pagan confirms. “The lighting rig isn’t large so this was also a way to add more colour changing lighting to the show and gives me more options to play with.”
