Prestonwood Baptist Church - Plano, Texas

Seating 7000 and covering an acre of Texas, this entire sanctuary is lit to strict broadcast television standards. In addition to Sunday services the lighting system is designed to accommodate two extraordinary pageants each year and evening music services each week. General light levels and vertical-to-horizontal footcandle ratios throughout the sanctuary are coordinated to stay within the contrast ranges and signal-to-noise capabilities of the most modern CCD cameras and of the extremely long focal length lenses needed in this huge room.

The room is designed to look spectacular in person and to look spectacular on camera. Special lighting attention is given to the baptistery, to the stained glass wall behind the baptistery, and to the choir and orchestra. Great care was needed to keep all spill light off the video rear projection screens. The church requested that the speaker at the pulpit should be able to see the faces of people in the last row of seats 200 feet away. This is accomplished by keeping the audience lighting uniform right up to and including the last row, and by lighting the rear walls slightly less brightly than the audience.

Lighting controls include a large theatrical style lighting control console in the center of the house, distributed remote lighting controllers, more than 800 dimmers, moving lights, and several data networks including remote focus, DMX, and Ethernet run on optical fiber. The network operates all lighting, including architectural lighting, stage lighting, video lighting, and worklights.

Robert Davis worked in association with television lighting designer Danny Franks, Inc. Danny Franks Inc. provides the television lighting design. Robert Davis Inc. provides the architectural lighting and dimming system design. Other joint projects of Danny Franks and Robert Davis include the Billy Graham Chapel in Asheville NC, the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville FL, and the Second Baptist Church in Houston TX.

Architect: a joint venture of HH Architects and JPJ Architects of Dallas, Texas
Acoustician: Acoustic Dimensions of New Rochelle, New York