Project Description
Overview
The First United Methodist Church is a thoroughly modern worship ministry that serves a thriving, diverse community in the heart of downtown Miami. Located on the corner of 5th and Biscayne, the new location of the church is a multi-purpose worship and community center situated in a high-end residential building that it shares with a luxury hotel.
Program
The WSDG design team was tasked with acoustics and A/V systems design and theatrical lighting design. The team worked closely with several partners on the project, including project architect Juan Alayo of Alayo Architects, project managers Cumming Group, and system integrators Maxicon.
Design
The First United Methodist Church is a model of the modern worship facility, including a main sanctuary, smaller chapel, classrooms, gym, and a multi-purpose gathering space.
The spacious sanctuary is the centerpiece – backdropped by a gorgeous, panoramic view of the Miami Bay. WSDG’s designed an acoustic treatment package that elevates the space’s sound quality and provides superior speech intelligibility to allow it to be used as a musical performance, theater, and screening space in addition to its regular use as the center of worship. WSDG’s recommendations also provide isolation from the street noise and the hotel above.
In addition to this, WSDG designed a full A/V systems package including a QSYS-controlled distributed audio system from NEXO, an Allen and Heath digital console for the FOH audio, a QuickQ console for controlling a full motorized theatrical lighting rig, and remote controlled cameras for filming performances and streaming broadcast of services. All of these control systems are located within the sanctuary’s control room and are set up for streaming webcast, high-level A/V performance, and both audio and video recording.