Humbled. That’s all I can say about this project. Bargeheights partnered with Harbor Community Church in the Lakeside neighborhood of New Orleans to overhaul their worship space over the last month. We were honored to serve alongside such dedicated, passionate and committed staffers, volunteers – and even a missions team in town for a visit! This is the real deal. Ministry in a challenging environment—where planters spend years just figuring out the culture. Pastor James’ insight into the city and culture is nothing short of amazing. And Harbor’s partnership with Bargeheights is extremely humbling. This is EXACTLY the type of project the Bargeheights crew loves to take on!
The leadership team at Harbor sent us an impressive set of pictures and measurements and the BH design team went to town cranking out drawings, details and concepts. James and Zach at Harbor “went there” with us on every design suggestion. They trusted us, and listened to our coaching. The result is something wonderful; a true representation of what happens when passionate people collaborate and work together.
The Auditorium at Harbor presented a number of challenges. Remodeled shortly after Hurricane Katrina, the interior finishes did not reflect the vision and style of the church. The post-modern exterior has lots of potential, but the interior felt disconnected. Harbor also didn’t have any existing visual production gear—no lighting, no lyric presentation equipment. To make things even more challenging, the majority of the room was plaster construction–not the easiest for rigging.
Before
After
A Bargeheights designed interior plan helped shaped the room, using variations in paint tone and finish textures to focus attention toward the stage. We also designed a modern take on a New Orleans shutter to minimize undesirable windows in the auditorium.
On the lighting side, BH designed a versatile, minimally invasive rig using six BH LED36′s for side/backlight across the stage, and 4 ETC Source 4 Jr Lekos for key light. Bargeheights also overhauled house lighting for the auditorium using an ETC Smartfade dimmer panel. New recessed can lights were installed around the perimeter of the room to replace aging fluorescent fixtures. Bargeheights also designed new self-built (for dirt cheap) linen drum lamp shade lights which were built by volunteers to provide dimmable houselight over the center of the room using existing ceiling boxes. We also were able to help Harbor by designing and integrating a new ProPresenter based video rig.
This renovation came together beautifully—all because of a AMAZING church with AMAZING people and their willingness to explore new ideas. It’s also a great demonstration of how good communication and drawings can enable renovation without requiring tons and tons of onsite time.
Harbor- it was too much fun! Thanks for your amazing hospitality, all the laughs and the joy of serving together. We pray that your ministry continues to expand!!
Plaster Construction = unique rigging. Low Profile and Sleek!
View of the auditorium space. Visual interiors and house light designed by Bargeheights.
A shot during band load in
Completed Stage and Scenic Look. BH LED36 LEDs, BAR252′s and some dirt cheap set design!
Drum Lamp Shades. Fancy Finish. Built by Volunteers for Dirt Cheap.
Pastor James teaching in the renovated Auditorium
Congrats to Crossroads’ Georgetown Campus for a great soft launch of their new permanent facility! This was one of the most personally rewarding projects where Bargeheights has been able to contribute. I spent time with the Crossroads Georgetown campus in the early days, when the campus was a completely portable church-in-a-box operation. In fact, the original ”bargeheights” blog started during my time there. To this day, my experiences with the Georgetown campus highlight the “WOW” of serving and leading in the local church. The Crossroads GTown community has done so much for my family and holds a special place in our heart.
It was an absolute honor to come alongside Greg Gilmore and so many familiar faces (Amy, Ken, Chris, Bo, Kathy, Tom…so many) to design a scenic look for the opening weekend and help provide some guidance on lighting design, working alongside the church’s avl integrator.
Greater things are yet to come!
Worship Look
Bargeheights BAR252 lights up some Modular Arts panels in the Lobby!
Greg Gilmore Hosting for the weekend from the side stage
Detail of Scenic Element
Detail of the Chandelier
The Pre-Focus meeting
Bargeheights just wrapped up a project with Central Baptist Church in Winchester, KY. The church’s original sanctuary (over 100 years old) now serves as the primary worship environment an active youth group. Bargeheights partnered with church volunteers to perform a cosmetic renovation of the space and integrate some fantastic Bargeheights LED lighting gear.
Bargeheights directed volunteer efforts to fabricate inexpensive burlap panels, paint walls and construct exposed conduit house lighting. Following the volunteer’s efforts, the Bargeheights crew arrived on site to deploy a giant lighting rig featuring (16) BH BAR252 for scenic wash, (8) BH LED PARs for backlight and (3) BH LED 54AW for key light along with (2) MH 250 moving head profiles.
We’re really happy with the result–we think this project in particular highlights the effectiveness of a good lighting plan. No massive renovation required—just a little church volunteer TLC, some dirt cheap LED lighting and a good plan!
Room Update: Burlap Fabric Panels
New Bargeheights LED lighting
More Burlap panel closeups
Lighting Rig from above
Color Wash Shot- amazing how the BAR252 wash catches all of the texture of the existing architecture.
A little detail of the confidence monitor and innovative house light solution
Bargeheights had the privilege of partnering with Southern Seminary’s Event Production department to design and furnish a self contained lighting rig for use during the university’s on-campus conferences and events. Bargeheights scope included design of the rig and power distro, furnishing LED lighting gear, console, training and some scenic design guidance.
The project concluded with a training session covering the basics of assembling the rig, integrating existing equipment, best practices during load in and some training on the Chamsys lighting console. We had a blast working with Stuart, Kyle and the production team. All great guys with an amazing heart for the Kingdom. For me, it’s the best part of partnering with ministry organizations—no matter what role we each play, we’re all united by a common love for God and a desire to communicate His truth to others.
Charlie Hall rocked a killer set during the conference and a post-conference concert. I had a blast putting the rig through its paces behind such a humble and authentic worship artist. Even cooler, Stuart took over the rig for the second act and built some incredible looks–all while busking. Sure, it’s fun to run a rig. It’s even more fun to training and equip production artists and watch them succeed!
Here’s a few pics. More over on the BH Flickr.
Charlie Hall Set
Another cool look during the Charlie Hall Set
Stuart- the new Lighting Designer
Previsualization Renderings.
A warm look for the Charlie Hall set. Love having some upstage conventionals!
A snapshot of some of the documentation package for Southern Seminary’s rig
Bargeheights was privileged to come alongside Chad Acklin and Steve Hadden at Journey Church in Louisville, KY to help create a compelling worship space for this growing church plant. The BH team worked closely with Journey to develop an economical production solution that limited impact to the church’s current meeting space.
Bargeheights Lighting gear includes LED36 backlight, LED 54AW facelight and BAR252 wash bars. For visuals and lyric projection, Bargeheights opted for a triple-wide plasma display solution fed by ProPresenter4.
Final Room View
BH’s Clifton with a happy Worship Pastor Chad!
Rendering
Before…
