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Cogent’s Robert Soo and Resonate’s Luther Ong reunite with Pastor Philip Tan
Detailed design Having rented out premises in the Bukit Merah neighbourhood of Singapore for some 21 years, Zion Living Streams has found a permanent home. Richard Lawn takes a tour UPON FIRST VIEWING, THE TWO repurposed industrial units in Upper Serangoon may not have resembled a house of God to Pastor Philip Tan. However, his vision has been created with more than a little help from his weekly worshippers and leading HOW AV and lighting consultant, Robert Soo from Cogent Acoustics. Since 2016, places of worship needing a space and who are unable to bid for government religious land-use parcels, are able to lease commercial or light industrial units under a special provision by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Ministry of National Development. “For us, it’s our home,” proudly comments Pastor Tan. Within a four-month time frame, the seventhlevel industrial unit was transformed into a 120-capacity church for their weekly Sunday and other community services. This included the provision of new digital audio and visual systems to enable the charismatic and musical services. Never one to dismiss a challenge, Soo was enthusiastic to lend his expertise in converting this relatively small 90m2 unit. “The church wanted to be a good neighbour here,” highlights Soo. “Despite some of the walls being quite thick in places and the fact that there is a car park
One of the three QSC K8.2 ceiling-mounted models
The walls are covered with a limited number of
Two ceiling-mounted displays provide visuals for the rear seats
immediately below, we still needed to factor in sound isolation. The floor was floated during the conversion and semi-isolated walls were added to the interior. In addition, the structure allowed for an isolated drum room to be constructed. Finally, the outer doors to the corridor were found to be leaking, so these have been replaced with fully sealed ones that are much denser to further prevent audio pollution beyond.” The carpeted 30cm-high, two-tiered stage is the focal point during Sunday services, where Pastor Tan, the singers and musicians gather to lead
26 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020
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