Case-Study: Church Lighting Restoration

Hawthorne Gospel Church, Hawthorne, NJ Contemporary Style Lights

Hawthorne Gospel came to Artech for a complete church renovation. Artech was able to assist them by improving their lighting and providing new pews.

At the time of the renovation, the sanctuary lighting was provided by 22 overhead fixtures and several large wall fixtures located in the rear of the room.

Due to the age and location of the fixtures, there were pools of dim light interspersed with shadows.

The church was considering disposing of the fixtures and purchasing new ones. However, Artech was able to show them how they could save money, and still solve their lighting problems, by refurbishing the existing church fixtures.

We presented them with several sketches of the proposed lighting renovation.

They chose an option that utilized the outer arms of their existing fixtures, removed the center “candle” and added a center bowl.

We removed one fixture and brought it back to the shop. John modified it and we presented the sample to the church.

They were happy with the results and had us do the lighting restoration.

You can see the results.

Our goal was to meet the 3 area’s of light :

• Down lighting, for a wide spread of light over the pews
• Interior fixture light, for general illumination
• Up lighting, for ambient reflective light

Standard fixtures are made for general lighting, not specialized church lighting.

Artech retro-actively modified Hawthorne’s lighting to fit their space and needs. By altaring the arrangement of the bulbs we were able to expand the spread of light, increasing the 10 foot wide cones, of light, to 18 feet. This allowed the islands of light to overlap and eliminated the dark areas between the islands.

We added new lights, to increase general illumination and up lights to remove the shadows from the ceiling.

John was able to suggest a different type of bulb, which improved the color quality of the lights.

Now, instead of a yellowish white light, the fixtures now give off a bright white light.

The new bulbs also last 3000 hours, as opposed to 1500 hours. This is significant when your lights are 2 stories off the ground.

The most dramatic effect of Hawthorne Gospel’s lighting renovation isn’t even visible. The new fixtures use halogen lights, which provide more illumination with less glare, all while consuming less wattage.

With a total of 22 fixtures, this adds up to 11,330 total watts/hour savings, on their electric bill, every time they turn on the church lights.