PROJECTS
New Cairo’s new cathedral Cathedral of the Nativity has opened its doors, becoming the largest church in the Middle East. James Cooke reports
AT THE DAWN OF 2019, EGYPTIAN president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi inaugurated the Cathedral of the Nativity in New Cairo. A brand new Coptic Orthodox cathedral dedicated to the birth of Christ, Great St Antony is thought to be the largest church in the Middle East at 135,000m2, with space for a congregation of up to 8,500 people. Audio Technology Egypt was tasked with designing and installing the systems for sound reinforcement at the new cathedral. From the initial planning stages, including software simulations of the audio setup required, it became clear that the imposing size of the building, and the sheer volume within, was going to result in a number of challenges to overcome. A daunting task lay ahead, especially given Cathedral of the Nativity’s high public profile. The cathedral may be one of the largest on the planet, but it would often find itself under a proverbial magnifying glass. ‘The brief from the beginning was clear,’ recalls Emad Adly, chairman of Audio Technology. ‘It would be the
24 WORSHIP AVL May–June 2019
largest cathedral in the Middle East with an interior length of 142m, width of 90m, dome height of 45m and a high vaulted ceiling. An audio system was therefore required because of how challenging the acoustics in the sanctuary are with hard reverberation. We had to make sure the largest church in the Middle East sounded good with the latest technology in the form of digital steerable line arrays.’ The integrator has plenty of experience in projects at houses of worship throughout Egypt, including several Saint Marc Episcopate affiliated churches. ‘Through the years, Audio Technology has supplied and installed sound reinforcement systems, mixing consoles and wireless microphone systems for numerous houses of worship,’ confirms Adly. ‘Audio Technology also provided system calibration and design services for the Episcopate’s Saint Mark cathedral, which led to us being invited to bid for the new capital’s Cathedral of the Nativity tender, and we had the honour of winning this historical project.’
During the system design process, the Audio Technology team made use of AFMG’s EASE Focus acoustic simulation software to determine the best sound setup possible. ‘The biggest challenge we faced was the acoustics,’ Adly reiterates. ‘The reverberation time was challenging because of the architecture and the building’s finishing materials. A lot of
details in the design of the church had to be studied and simulated before installation. It took us two months of hard work and several EASE modelling revisions.’ Other issues to contend with included the various restrictions imposed by the cathedral, including aesthetic considerations. ‘Not all designs and primary plans for the
