Stage Technologies was responsible for overseeing the entire rigging installation at the tabernacle, working with Jacobsen Construction, McLaren Engineering Group, Pook, Diemont & Ohl Inc, Tomcat Truss, Conductix and AMC Fabrication.
Fourteen BigTow390 winches were installed to control lighting trusses and speaker clusters. BigTow290 winches were also installed to automate seven large chandeliers. This allows the chandeliers to be lowered to a safe working height to be maintained and cleaned.
Three BigTow200 winches are used to carry personnel up to the organ loft for the cleaning of their world famous 11,623 piped organ. The system is controlled from a Stage Technologies' Nomad console and a Solo radio handheld controller.
The elliptical shape of the Tabernacle's roof structure made working space and access for equipment and cabling very limited; a complex challenge for the installation. The Church directed design to preserve as much of the original structure as possible. Nathan Wells, Stage Technologies' project manager, comments: "We overcame many of the limited space issues with a large number of custom sheaves, mountings and steel wire rope diverters."
(Jim Evans)
