ARCHITECTURE Copyright Lighting &Sound America October 2007 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html 58 • October 2007 • Lighting &Sound America UNDER the Dom e The historic Salt Lake Tabernacle is equipped with latter-day technology By: Judith Rubin hen it came time to implement pillars interfering with the congrega - W a seismic upgrade to the his - tion’s view. The capacious attic space toric Salt Lake Tabernacle of the within that roof turned out to be a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day handy area for the support infrastruc - Saints (LDS), a remarkable building ture for much of the Tabernacle’s new that has weathered nearly a century lighting, sound, and audio equipment. and a half, it was decided to overhaul The technical consultants became and upgrade the theatrical systems as well acquainted with the dome in the well. The house of worship stands in course of their work. Salt Lake City’s Temple Square and is “The trusses live between the the home of the Mormon Tabernacle domed ceiling and roof, and are quite Choir. It is also Utah’s most popular amazing,” says S. Leonard Auerbach, tourist destination, used daily for a whose company, Auerbach Pollock variety of live events, including religious Friedlander, worked on the renovation meetings and musical performances, as theatre consultant. “They’re most of which are also broadcast and designed as bridge trusses and are recorded. Therefore, any new theatrical all pegged together, and have been systems had to work for both the live holding up since the beginning.” The . d e audience and broadcast community. Auerbach Pollock Friedlander team v r e s e The building’s standout architec - included Grace Gavin on lighting sys - r s t h tural feature is the 150'-wide, elon - tems, Dan Mei on video systems, and g i r l l A gated dome roof, engineered by Tom Neville on a network of custom . c n I , bridge builder Henry Grow and con - hoisting mechanisms and lifts. e v r e structed in a lattice-truss arch sys - Most of the extensive, new state- s e R l tem. As the story goes, Brigham of-the-art installation remains out of a u t c e Young, the famed Mormon leader, sight of the people in the pews. “The l l e t n I didn’t want a large number of support complex extends far beyond what the 7 0 0 2 © : s o t o h P www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • October 2007 • 59 ARCHITECTURE visitor sees when they come to mount their equipment. One chal - The acoustician also had to deal Temple Square,” notes acoustician Ed lenge to the entire team was to with decades of plaster repairs. ward Mc Cue, principal consultant and ensure there was never a fire during “There were perhaps 30 coats of project manager for Kirkegaard construction. This meant that no one stuff, all different materials and Associates, provider of audio and could weld in the space and it also paints,” says McCue. “The longevity acoustical consulting to the renova - meant that the sprinkler system was of a plaster ceiling depends on its tion. “Underground, there is a fantas - continually active. The new sprinkler ability to breathe—for water vapor to tic complex of not only dressing system was completely installed and pass through in both directions—and rooms and support areas for the choir, operational before the old system these multiple coatings were counter - but also rehearsal rooms and media could be removed. One difficulty is productive to that.” In addition, the rooms for broadcast and production.” th e sprinkler system was never off— restored plasterwork had to preserve The Kirkegaard team included senior for safety reasons, we couldn’t turn the space’s sound reflectivity. A tip consultants Richard Laidman (audio the old system off until the new one from the other side of the Atlantic, system design), Tim Gulsrud was in, so no welding could be done where similar situations crop up in (acoustics), and consultant Ben Willt (noise and vibration control). FFKR were the architects in charge of the Jackson: “The ultimate goal was to project. The audio, video, and produc - strengthen and fortify the building while tion communication systems installer still keeping the old, original Tabernacle. was Diversified Systems Inc. Lighting ” equipment was supplied by Barbizon. The technical design consultants and anywhere in the space. Up in the buildings older than the Tabernacle, led contractors worked with LDS techni - roof, there is now the electrical sys - to the choice to use Keim silicate paint, cal staff, in particular Lorin Morse tem, the new ice reduction system, a plaster refinishing material that pro - (lighting) and Sean McFarland (AV). all the winches for the light trusses vided the necessary qualities. The interior space of the domed and chandeliers, the sprinkler sys - In order to accommodate the vari - attic, having been structurally tem, and some sound stuff. It is fairly ous events held in the Tabernacle, the strengthened, helped the team to ful - accessible by wooden ladders and rostrum was fitted out with modules fill the client’s mandate to install 21st- work platforms.” and lifts that enable it to assume century theatrical systems while leav - A considerable patchwork had three different configurations: ing the historic architecture visually built up inside the Tabernacle. “Over “orchestra,” “stake conference.” and undisturbed. “There is about 10' of years of use and changing technolo - “general authority.” Each mode has space between the ceiling and the gies, things were just attached here different parts and pieces that are roof,” observed Auerbach Pollock and there—lighting positions on bal - moved from the underground storage Friedlander’s Tom Neville. “We used cony fronts, on the organ, behind the area and up a large stage lift to the that space for mounting the equip - organ,” says Gavin. “It wasn’t inte - floor of the tabernacle where they are ment. Using the attic space, we were grated; it looked like it was just hang - positioned. Auerbach Pollock able to put 10lbs. in a five-pound ing off random supports, and every - Friedlander developed the lift system bag. I have to hand it to Jacobsen thing was black and taped, as if the to accommodate the various uses. Construction, the contractor; their backstage had been brought into the The transformations can be effected team did a great job defining the audience—but a lot closer to the in 24 hours or fewer, depending upon zones in which everybody could audience than if it were in a theatre.” the configuration. “It’s essentially a Above and following pages: The renovation of the Tabernacle is seen at various stages. 60 • October 2007 • Lighting &Sound America very flexible concert hall,” says untested at the time they were speci - The overall control package, in Auerbach. In “general authority” fied. First was sinewave dimming, addition to the two racks of ETC mode, about 100 people are seated provided by ETC. “They are quieter Sensor+ sinewave dimming for the on the rostrum. For other modes, the and also more expensive than stan - architectural lighting, consists of six seating platform modules and dard rise-time dimmers,” says Gavin. racks of ETC Sensor dimmers for the - nonessential AV elements are lowered The system was implemented for the atrical usage, one additional rack to into the storage area. house lighting dimmers, where the handle the annual outdoor Nativity Auerbach Pollock Friedlander facil - new technology would eliminate the scene at Christmas time, plus an itated the design of the presentation most lamp noise. “The theatrical additional rack for UPS emergency and broadcast lighting system, and lamps chosen for this project are very broadcast. There are over 100 distri - created a custom hoist system for the small-filament and less of a concern bution receptacle devices located new lighting positions within the cavi - than the ‘noisier’ house chandelier throughout the room, which also has ty of the dome, which was strength - fixtures,” Gavin adds. “ The acoustics an ETCnet Ethernet data distribution ened with a new steel framework. consultant was very keen on the use system, with 34 Ethernet tap loca - “All winches are at the spring point of this product for the decorative tions. An ETC Unison system pro - of the dome,” says Auerbach. “The dimmed loads.” vides architectural lighting control, cables go up within the cavity to the “We were very happy about the “One of the most arduous jobs we points from which they can make their sinewave dimmers,” concurs McCue. had was understanding what existing drop. This being an archway, there’s a “That technology was maturing while circuitry had already been distributed complex deployment of cables that we were specifying the equipment for to locations along the organ, and fig - required plotting pathways in 3-D this project. For the Tabernacle, it uring out how we were going to CAD so that the cables wouldn’t inter - gives such tremendous flexibility. The rework and integrate additional distri - fere with anything else.” All the over - chances for incompatibility between bution to improve the cyclorama light - head rigging controls are automated. the dimmer and lighting instrument ing.” says Gavin. “Because there was The rigging package includes a are dramatically reduced, so the no existing documentation, and the Nomad control desk from Stage threat of filament noise is rendered organ was closed off and protected Technologies handling 14 Stage almost inconsequential.” on the site, we spent a lot of time Technologies Big Tow 1,000lb. BT2- The ETC Eos lighting console was working on this with the head lighting 390 winches (for trusses, speaker another new piece of gear in develop - technician, Lorin Morse.