Churches & Houses of Worship

About half of all our church projects have been design and consulting for the renovation of existing facilities that were not designed with correct acoustics, noise control, or audio-visual systems in the first place. If these churches had engaged an acoustic consultant in the early stages of design, much of the their additional expense and inconvenience could have been avoided.

Michael Jarzabkowski & Associates now specializes in design and consulting for church projects. Having consulted for acoustics, audio-visual, and theatrical lighting for numerous churches, we realized that project integration in the design stages was often lacking. To make up for this we have started a project integration consultancy especially aimed at the preliminary design stage for new church projects. This consultancy now covers more than acoustics, noise control, audio-visual systems, theatrical lighting, and stage rigging systems. We are also available for consulting at the earliest stages of your project to provide ideas on building layout and design, auditorium size and shape, seating, requirements for ancillary spaces, projected budgets, and timeline schedules.

As an aid to those starting new church projects we have a number of web-based resources and articles available.

Click here for Resource Guide for Planning and Design of Church Facilities
Click here for The Role of Acoustics in Preliminary Sanctuary Design
Click here for Integrating Worship Technology Systems into the Building Design

Some of Our Church Projects

First Baptist of Umatilla had outgrown their sanctuary so they commissioned a new building design with Blaise Fiebach and Associates as the architects. We were brought in to the design during the initial stages and by working with the architects, the music director, and the church building committee, we were able to ensure that the project would meet their multi-media ministry goals well into the future.

The music minister, Mr. Dan Parker regularly directed musicals and other contemporary stage performances in the church so design concepts for a theatrical performace space were key elements. The Sunday worship featured a contemporary ensemble with drums, guitars, keyboards, soloists, and a choir, so the acoustics and sound system were given a high priority. Mr. Hayden Hale, chairman of the building committee, was extremely pleased with the results when the church opened in late 2002 with seating for 1000 people.

Pinellas Community Church, St. Petersburg, Florida

When Pinellas Community Church took over the church building previously owned by Maximo Baptist Church, we were engaged as the acoustics and audio system consultants for the renovation and adaptation. The building was a traditional style sanctuary with acoustics suitable for choral performances rather than a contemporary style of worship. Pinellas Community Church used electric guitars, bass guitar, synthesizers, and drums in their worship so we worked closely with the Rev. David Melendez the founding pastor, and Randy Jakab the music director to prepare the facility for their requirements.

The challenge was to design a system that would provide high sound pressure levels without directing sound onto the reflective wall and ceiling surfaces which would increase the amount of reverberant sound. Our design documents specified a tightly controlled loudspeaker cluster and MARS Music in Tampa supplied a JBL loudspeaker system that met the specifications.

Greeneway Church, Orlando, Florida

The first phase of GreeneWay is a 350 seat sanctuary and we were responsible for all design aspects of the project including civil engineering, site layout, building architecture, acoustics, and audio-visual systems. Cover Engineering Inc. of Lakeland Florida coordinated the civil and structural design work for us along with the submissions to the local authorities.

We worked closely with Rev. Mike Rakes the senior pastor, and Rev. Chuck Spong the music minister to provide a building that reflected their contemporary but relaxed concept of ministry. Acoustics and audio-visual systems had an extremely high priority as the church ministers to the multimedia saturated residents of Orlando Florida--the city made famous by Disney World.

Tamil Methodist Church, Ipoh, Malaysia

We were the acoustics and audio-visual system design consultants for their new church sanctuary which seats 1,100 people. The technical staff were very particular about their new building because they had suffered with poor acoustics in their old auditorium which seated about 500. The audio system supply and installation was awarded to Pacific Electronics of Ipoh who in response to our design documents supplied a loudspeaker system from EAW.

Some More Recent Church Projects

• Word Alive Ministries, Lakeland, Florida. (Architecture, acoustics and A/V system design)
  
• Center Congregational Church, Manchester, Connecticut. (Acoustic appraisal for pipe organ installation)
  
• Grace Assembly of God, New Whiteland, Indiana. (Acoustics and noise control).
  
• St. John's Episcopal Church, New Haven, Connecticut. (Sound system design)
  
• Harvest Assembly of God, Lakeland, Florida. (Site design for Phase II and III)
  
• His Sanctuary of Glory, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. (Acoustics and A/V system design)
  
• Calvary Baptist Church, Winter Haven, Florida. (Acoustics and A/V system design)