New Light for a Landmark: Crossroads Uptown

When Crossroads Church revitalized an aging church in Cincinnati to establish a new campus for their expanding congregation, they turned to Vincent Lighting Systems (VLS) to make it shine.

Date Started
January 2016
Date Completed
September 2016
Location
Cincinnati,
OH /
Crossroads Uptown Church

Project Overview

Originally constructed in 1873 as Old Saint George Church, the building fell into disrepair after its closure in 1993, and in 2008, an electrical fire destroyed its striking twin steeples. The church had been scheduled for demolition multiple times before Crossroads acquired it, undertook extensive renovations, and breathed life back into a breathtaking piece of Cincinnati architecture. When they wanted lighting to accentuate the new renovations, they got in contact with VLS.

Scope of Work

Our sales staff and project managers worked together to build the perfect match of architectural lighting fixtures, stage lighting instruments and controls to allow for dynamic performances and stirring worship services. Additionally, we helped the church establish their exterior as a neighborhood landmark. Most importantly, we provided the support and expertise to make these systems reliable and accessible to the volunteers and crew at the church.

Goals and Challenges

  • Replacing the outdated lighting system in a church that had fallen into disrepair.
  • Enhancing the exterior appearance of the church to drive public interest.
  • Creating an easy-to-use lighting system to support contemporary worship services.
  • Creating a modern appeal while accentuating the historic architecture of the church.
  • Ground-supporting all new lighting to avoid adding weight load to the roof.
  • Working with existing wiring penetration to avoid disturbing the structure.

Solutions and Innovations

  • Tightly focused LED wash lights concentrate light within the steeples, and interior lights illuminate ground-level windows, producing a welcoming glow that can operate automatically on a schedule based on each day’s sunrise and sunset times.
  • The interconnected system links all of the church auditorium’s button stations and touchscreens to incoming and outgoing network data for the courtyard, steeple lighting, and sanctuary.
  • Dimmer modules, relay modules, and versatile power-thru modules provide variable power to conventional lights and non-dim power to LEDs and moving lights.
  • An uninterruptible power supply ensures a continuous operation and protection of the electronics in the event of a power failure, brownout or blackout.
  • The architectural lights include a combination of recessed downlights color-matched to blend into the patina on the ceiling and indirect wash lights mounted on custom trusses that provide new lighting positions without obscuring the beauty of the original marble columns.
  • The trusses also support a number of LED and conventional spotlights to provide directional lighting on stage. The LED spots offer the ability to quickly change colors to set the tone of the performance or message.
  • Moving lights are also used from these positions, offering re-focusable specials and effects lighting.

Gear List

  • ETC Unison ERN Architectural Control Network Enclosure
  • LED wash lights
  • MA Lighting network nodes
  • Philips Strand Lighting Emergency DMX Bypass Switch
  • ETC Sensor 3 Power Control Centers
  • Aquarii LED recessed downlights
  • GDS by ETC Pro Multicell LD wash lights
"Our sales staff and project managers worked together to build the perfect match of architectural lighting fixtures, stage lighting instruments and controls to allow for dynamic performances and stirring worship services."

Team Members Involved

Adam Hayward
Salesperson
Debra Rettich
Project Manager
Matt Klasmeier
Service Technician
Jake Preston
Service Technician/Installer
Trevor Shibley
Installer

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