Electrosonic Systems Inc. (Electrosonic) has supplied an array of Christie projectors and Stewart and Dalite screens for the just-opened Bill Graham Library located in the headquarters of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte, North Carolina. Electrosonic was subcontracted by ITEC Productions of Orlando, Florida, which designed and produced all the facility’s multimedia and exhibits.
Visitors to the new library, which is housed in a 40,000-square-foot complex in the form of a red dairy barn, follow “One Man’s Journey” from the pastures and gravel roads of North Carolina to the big tents and arenas of America’s largest cities to stadiums and broadcast media across the globe. Displays of historical backdrops alternate with multimedia theatres showing events and milestones of Billy Graham’s lifelong mission.
The equipment provided by Electrosonic is deployed in applications, which range from a pre-show on the early days of Graham’s ministry to a finale summarizing the evangelist’s outreach. Thirteen Christie projectors—encompassing DW6K, DS +60, DS+25W, and DS+5K models—are mounted on custom trusses affixed to the library’s ceiling. The Stewart film screens and Dalite screens, some of them rear projection, comprise various configurations.
According to Electrosonic project manager Thursby Pierce, two of the most challenging installations were the “Restoring Priorities” and “Finale” presentations. The former, housed in a circular room, features three projectors projecting onto three screens evenly spaced about 120º apart and integrated with the exhibit’s set pieces and displays. “It’s tough to get the geometry right for projection in a circular room and to ensure that the projectors are correctly placed,” notes Pierce. The Christie Twist Warp module helped take the curvature of the space into account.
The “Finale” posed the additional challenge of “edge blending to produce one large image on a single, curved screen 10¼ feet high by 33¼ feet wide,” says Pierce. Electrosonic provided three Christie DS+5K projectors for this room each with Christie Twist Warp modules to facilitate the edge blending and curvature of the screen.
Randy Smith was Electrosonic’s site supervisor for the Billy Graham Library. John Notarnicola served as projectionist and commissioning engineer.