Grace United Methodist Church
Location: Baltimore, MD
Electrical Engineer: Alban Engineering
Description:
Grace United Methodist Church was founded in 1868 and has resided in its current building since 1951. The church has a unique story in that they are the combined congregation of multiple Methodist traditions.
Between their beginnings in 1868 and today, the congregations of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, Roland Park Methodist Episcopal Church, North Baltimore Methodist Protestant Church, and A.W. Wilson Memorial Methodist Church have come together at various moments through the decades to create what is now Grace United Methodist Church.
Grace church is an example of elegant simplicity. Its expansive nave and chancel are large open volumes with simple but purposeful architectural lines and details that make it feel grand and reverent yet also accessible.
Scope of Work
The project scope included updating the existing 20 year old halogen and phase dimming based system to one that would be more efficient, easier to maintain and most importantly provide better quality and more flexible lighting to support the ongoing effort of integrating newer audio and visual technologies. While not an unusual challenge, what is unique in this venue is that a majority of the lighting is largely concealed from the parishioner’s view. Only the decorative wall sconces on either side of the nave are exposed fixtures. This high level of architectural integration is critical to the overall aesthetic.
The design team conducted extensive fixture research, test fits and mockups to identify the right fixtures, mounting methods and locations to use in order to achieve all of the performance goals while providing the requested improvements to the quality of the chancel’s presentation lighting. In addition, existing decorative and architectural cove lighting was converted to high quality dimmable LED lamps. The selection of which required testing multiple selections in conjunction with the appropriate dimming system to ensure dimming performance along with color consistency, flicker, noise, etc. Supporting all of the new and upgraded lighting required the addition of a DMX data distribution system but otherwise used all of the existing power circuiting saving a lot of money. The great flexibility of using DMX controlled fixtures facilitated this repurposing of existing power circuits and provided a much higher level of control flexibility. The control system selected needed to be robust, designed specifically for LED usage, provide for future expansion, support the mixed use of phase dimming and DMX while providing the requested control interfaces that included the use of mobile devices.
The extensive effort made to select the right lighting and controls along with well coordinated commissioning and consistent engagement with ownership made for high value improvements that are impactful, easy to work with and largely transparent to the congregation.