When residents of the surrounding Highland Park neighbourhood agreed to join the congregation, SMU deeded the land for the church and worshippers began meeting in a temporary structure known as the 'Little Brown Church'. Today, HPUMC's deep tradition of worship and outreach has helped the diverse congregation grow to about 14,000 members. The current sanctuary was built in 1927, and was recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1994.
In 2007 HPUMC began preparations for installation of a new pipe organ built by Dobson Organ Builders of Lake City, Iowa. The new instrument is being installed in a completely renovated sanctuary. Stained glass windows have been repaired, HVAC systems upgraded and restrooms refurbished. The choir loft has been enlarged and sightlines from the balcony have been improved by increasing its slope, and the worship area has been completely resurfaced.
While the project has restored HPUMC's historic architecture, it has also turned back the clock on the acoustics by removing both the absorptive panels and the distributed loudspeaker system that were installed in the ceiling decades ago. The 900-seat sanctuary is a wonderful venue for organ and choral music, but like similar buildings the world over, it poses major problems for speech communication.
HPUMC turned to Kirkegaard & Associates' Chicago office. "I knew director of music & arts David Davidson from the Dallas Symphony," explains project manager Mark Penz. "We conducted an evaluation and make some recommendations, for which system designer and senior consultant Jonathan Darling was mainly responsible, and replacing the old distributed loudspeaker system was high on his list."
Jonathan Darling's EASE models showed that Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Digitally Steerable Arrays had the precise, programmable vertical directivity to deliver articulate speech in the highly reverberant sanctuary. The next step was to demonstrate the proposed loudspeakers to the church.Iconyx IC16 in the church's Left Trancept.
After listening to an Iconyx IC16, the church not only accepted the concept, but asked about larger arrays that would project further back in the sanctuary. The final system designed by Kirkegaard Associates and installed by Clair Brothers Systems included three pairs of Iconyx arrays: two IC16's at the front of the sanctuary, two IC24's for the long section of the nave, and two IC8's to cover the balcony.
A pair of BSS London DSP engines are used for delay and signal routing from the Soundcraft MH3 console. Renkus-Heinz TRX151 speakers mounted on the ceiling beams and powered by QSC CX Series amps an additional option for creating acoustic ambience for chimes and choir reinforcement.
(Jim Evans)
