Located in Wels, in the middle of Austria, St. Franziskus Church is the most innovative of religious meeting places. More than a regular church, this low-energy building, constructed from wood and glass, can also be used for other performances, small theatre and concerts. So the main-hall is called a celebation-room and not church, as usual. In addtiton to the technical demand, the architect had to find a way to express the ascetic lifestyle of St. Franziskus with a very simple and moderate interior.

To fulfil all requirements, a complex audio, video and lighting system, including easy to use control, was necessary, with the precondition that all technical elements should be kept discrete. All building-relevant parameters such as temperature control, energy demands (photovoltaics), daylight entry etc, were automatically controlled and set.

Behind a lot of motorised flaps, which can be opened via the AMX wireless touchpanel, the room can set up for any pre-selected scene, with plasma displays, theatre spots and DMX colour changers all hidden behind motorised doors, allowing different moods to be created.

Designed by Technik Design AG, the audio system, a six-zone, time-aligned distributed system, is concealed hidden behind the perforated wall panels, and connected to the AMX system for convenient recall of all user presets. The main system consists of two Martin Audio WTUB under-balconies plus a pair of CS265 — and four delay zones of eight EM15’s, invisibly distributed across the ceiling area to provide perfect listening level at each seating position. Additionally, an induction loop system for the hearing-impaired can be activated if necessary.

As the modern altar can be placed in three different posititons for worship in the middle area of the room, three listening oriented settings can be offered via AMX. Several peripheral areas — the foyer, baptism chapel and exterior — are also equipped with speaker systems, most of them concealed and AMX-activated.

The overall cost of the building work was 4,000,000 EURO.

The Puro Hotel chain recently opened a new venue under the name Puro Beach ‘Oasis del Mar’, in Cala Estancia in Palma de Mallorca (Spain).

The original Art Deco building has been given a complete face lift through the collaborative efforts of Swedish designer Gabrielle Jangeby and the hotel’s owner Mats Wahlström. The venue includes a number of different areas such as restaurant, swimming pool/terrace, pub and spa — but after hours the whole place becomes a club where only the latest music trends are played. To cater for this the installation required a top-of-the-range sound system with ‘cool’ aesthetics. The new Martin Audio AQ series was considered right from the outset.

For the swimming pool area AQ5’s, combined with AQ12’s and AQ215’s have been specified, and in the pub area AQ6’s, AQ12’s and AQ215’s take over. For the restaurant and spa areas C115 speakers were installed, taking into consideration that these two areas will not require the same sound levels as the rest of the venue.

With resident DJ Fabian coordinating a range of music events and guest DJ’s playing every day, all the year around, the system had to be able to provide pristine quality at low and high levels due to the flexible use of the venue.

Adagio Pro, Martin Audio’s Spanish distributors, supervised the installation and were highly satisfied with the results.