The Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Cambridge uses amplified rock music as an integral part of its worship. The Cambridge Vineyard had outgrown its existing space, a rented gymnasium at an elementary school, and was looking to establish a permanent home. Vineyard purchased a church in Cambridge from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Vineyard hired architects, Childs Bertman Tseckares (CBT), to develop the architectural design for renovation and hired Acentech to provide acoustical recommendations. It was clear that the church sanctuary in its existing form would not work well for Cambridge Vineyard’s music ministry.

Acentech measured a mid-frequency reverberation time of about 2.8 seconds in the sanctuary, longer than the 1.7 second mid-frequency reverberation time measured in the rented gymnasium. We recommended a spray-on absorptive finish for the vaulted ceiling of the sanctuary and advised CBT on the design of suspended panels that would provide helpful communicating reflections for congregational singing.

The congregation is very pleased with the acoustics in their new worship space.