Worship & Assembly
A worship or assembly room fills from empty to a full house in minutes, then sits dark for days — in a tall, reverberant volume where one noisy diffuser is heard by everyone. We deliver MEP design, prepared for your engineer of record’s review, that ventilates the peak crowd to ASHRAE 62.1, targets HVAC background noise of NC 25-30, and idles efficiently between events.
Big Rooms, Big Crowds, Big Swings in Load.
These spaces combine large occupancy swings with low tolerance for noise. A 600-seat sanctuary fills in minutes, drives a CO2 swing while a fixed peak-occupancy outdoor-air rate can over-ventilate at lower occupancy, and demands an NC 25-30 background to limit mechanical noise during sermons and quiet musical passages. We design demand-controlled ventilation, stratification-aware air distribution in 30-to-60-foot volumes, and the clean, isolated power that stage, AV, and broadcast depend on — all behind the seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project.
HVAC, Ventilation & Occupancy Swing
Peak-crowd capacity that tracks real occupancy and idles efficiently between events.
- Demand-controlled ventilation with CO2 sensing to ASHRAE 62.1, holding the area-based minimum outdoor air at any occupancy
- Outdoor-air rates set by space type and design occupancy (for places of worship, 5 cfm/person plus 0.06 cfm/sf, with a 120-people-per-1000-sf default density)
- Large-volume heating and cooling sized for rapid recovery after days of setback
- Stratification and high-volume air distribution managed in 30-to-60-foot sanctuary and stage-house ceilings
- Displacement or low-velocity distribution where the lowest noise floor is required
- Multi-use zoning so a side chapel, lobby, or classroom wing conditions independently of the main hall
Acoustics & Quiet Systems
An NC 25-30 background-noise target built into the design, because a reverberant room hides nothing.
- Background-noise targets of NC 25-30, subject to the room’s acoustic brief, driving equipment selection, fan sizing, and duct velocities
- Mechanical rooms and rooftop units located and isolated away from the sanctuary and stage
- Duct silencers, low-velocity mains, and lined plenums where the noise budget demands them
- Vibration isolation on fans, pumps, and rooftop equipment over occupied assembly space
- Coordination with the acoustician and AV designer so HVAC noise stays below the speech-intelligibility budget
Stage, AV & Technical Power
Clean, isolated power for production lighting, audio, and broadcast.
- Dedicated technical-power circuits and code-compliant equipment grounding for audio and broadcast to reduce electrical noise
- Stage dimming and DMX512-controlled house and theatrical lighting infrastructure and circuiting
- Company switches and portable-power connection points for touring and event production
- House-lighting controls with presets for service, performance, rehearsal, and cleaning modes
- Service capacity carrying stage, AV, kitchen, and event loads with diversity
- Pathways and rough-in coordinated with AV, broadcast, and rigging vendors
Life Safety & Assembly Egress
Assembly-rated life safety coordinated to the occupant load.
- Emergency and egress illumination across the full assembly occupancy per NFPA 101 and IBC
- Fire-alarm design to NFPA 72 and the adopted codes, with EVACS at the applicable IBC 907 threshold of 1,000 or more Group A occupants, and voice notification at lower occupant loads where required by NFPA 101 or local amendments
- Voice-intelligibility coordination so evacuation messaging carries in a reverberant room
- Egress, exit-sign, and assembly life-safety coordination across architectural and structural disciplines
- Kitchen, stage, and assembly exhaust interlocks tied into the life-safety sequence
Plumbing & Fellowship Support
Restroom cores and kitchens sized for a full house arriving at once.
- Restroom fixture counts based on the applicable IPC or UPC occupant-load minimums, with additional capacity for intermission peaks evaluated for the project
- Commercial and fellowship-hall kitchen plumbing, with Type I hood and grease coordination where cooking produces grease or smoke
- Natural-gas piping reconciled to kitchen, heating, and water-heating loads
- Peak-demand domestic hot water for kitchens, baptistries, and amenity spaces
- Roof and storm drainage coordinated over large clear-span roofs
Demand-controlled ventilation with CO2 sensing, sized to the peak assembly occupancy per ASHRAE 62.1, modulates outdoor air to real occupancy while never dropping below the area-based minimum. We pair it with large-volume heating and cooling tuned for rapid recovery, so the room regains comfort quickly after days of setback and idles efficiently when nobody is there. That swing — zero to design load in minutes — is a defining load problem in this sector, and we design the controls and capacity around it rather than a single design-day snapshot.
Yes — quiet is a design target, not an afterthought. We set an NC 25-30 background (lower where the acoustic brief requires) and let it drive fan selection, duct velocities, equipment location, and isolation, specifying silencers, low-velocity distribution, or displacement ventilation where the noise budget is tight. A tall, reverberant assembly room hides nothing, so we coordinate with the acoustician and AV designer to limit mechanical noise during speech and music.
Yes. We provide dedicated technical-power circuits and code-compliant equipment grounding to reduce electrical noise in audio and broadcast systems, plus dimming and DMX512-controlled house and theatrical lighting infrastructure, company switches for touring production, and preset house-lighting controls. We coordinate pathways and rough-in directly with your AV, broadcast, and rigging vendors so the production systems land cleanly behind the seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project.
We design emergency and egress illumination across the full occupancy and coordinate fire alarm to NFPA 72 and the IBC. Where IBC 907.2.1.1 applies, Group A occupancies with an occupant load of 1,000 or more require an emergency voice/alarm communication system. NFPA 101 or local amendments may require voice notification at lower occupant loads. We design for voice intelligibility in reverberant rooms to help occupants understand evacuation messages. Egress, exit signage, and assembly life safety are coordinated across disciplines so the set goes into review complete and internally consistent.
Yes. We base restroom fixture counts on the applicable IPC or UPC occupant-load minimums and evaluate additional capacity for intermission peaks to help the building serve a full house. For fellowship halls and event kitchens we design the plumbing, gas, and peak-demand hot water, and coordinate Type I hood exhaust and grease where cooking produces grease or smoke — all matched to how the room actually fills and empties.