Founded in 1947 in the heart of Mobile, Alabama, St Ignatius Catholic Church devised a new parish master plan in 2016 that called for the existing church to be repurposed as a parish hall and a new church to be constructed next door. Designed by Quina Grundhoefer Architects in neo-Gothic style with a brick façade, buttresses, limestone trim and a slate roof, the new church features historic stained glass windows repurposed from an old parish church in downtown Mobile.
Five years in the making, the new building retained a traditional sanctuary layout – with traditional acoustic challenges. ‘The sanctuary came with the reverberant acoustics we’ve encountered in a lot of church construction,’ confirms Chuck Walthall – an acoustic consultant specialising in religious buildings and owner of Walthall & Associates. ‘In many of these situations, we turn to steerable arrays from Renkus-Heinz to help mitigate the problems.’
Walthall had been approached by Quina Grundhoefer Architects to design an audio system capable of delivering intelligible, high-quality audio to the congregation. Modern Sound was hired to install and commission the system, while independent manufacturer’s representative Richard Hembree of Griffith Sales Associates called on his 25-plus years of working with Renkus-Heinz products to assist with the project as needed.
To improve speech intelligibility and provide even coverage for the seating area, a pair of Iconyx IC24-RN steerable arrays were installed in the nave, with a pair of smaller IC8-RNs deployed in the balcony for choir reinforcement. Beam steering technology allows Iconyx loudspeakers to tightly direct the sound, keeping it away from surfaces that may cause reflections. Intelligibility is key to church services, and the Iconyx system ensures a comfortable worship space with a balance for both live music and spoken word.
‘I had the opportunity to visit the sanctuary after its completion and was amazed at the fantastic balance of the room’s aesthetics and acoustics,’ says Hembree. ‘Kudos to Chuck and his team on the design work. Also, it is always a treat to work with the folks from Modern Sound. All around a great job done.’
More: www.renkus-heinz.com
