Public Buildings and Spaces
Acoustic Engineering, Audiovisual, Lighting Design
2023 · Jakarta, ID
Maria Bunda Kita Catholic Church sits inside the PIK2 Ecopark waterfront masterplan, developed by Agung Sedayu Group with architecture by Hawawinata & Associates and ALTA Integra engaged as acoustic, lighting, and audiovisual consultant. The church is deliberately positioned in the same civic district as a major mosque, an explicit statement of interfaith coexistence within the township. Its Gothic-inspired basilica form includes four towers rising roughly 65 meters and a sanctuary designed for about 1,640 worshippers — among the largest Catholic worship spaces in Greater Jakarta — set within a wider campus that also includes a Rectory and Maria Plaza & Chapel, an outdoor gathering space with its own smaller devotional chapel. The facade lighting works from restraint rather than spectacle, in keeping with the church's Marian dedication — warm, soft, and welcoming rather than dramatic. Illumination ascends the towers in stages, growing progressively lighter and more delicate at each level until it appears to dissolve near the top, reinforcing the building's verticality. Placement and beam angles were validated through lighting simulation and mock-ups covering material reflectance, color rendition, and glare before installation, running on energy-efficient LED with control systems programmed for different liturgical seasons and civic occasions while keeping brightness and spill restrained for the surrounding public realm. A value-engineering pass after early cost estimates came in over budget required re-selecting fixtures and details without losing the lighting's intended hierarchy and depth. Interior lighting follows a layered approach: ambient lighting for baseline visual comfort, concealed architectural uplighting that traces the Gothic arches and ribbed vaults, and vertical illumination on walls and columns so the space reads brighter without added energy use. A separate liturgical layer uses luminance contrast rather than raw brightness to direct attention toward the altar, crucifix, and ambo, while high-CRI and TM-30 accent lighting holds true color on stone, timber, sculpture, and stained glass. Because services are livestreamed, the lighting was also engineered for camera performance — flicker-free fixtures, camera-friendly color temperature, and vertical illuminance for facial modeling — with the audiovisual displays kept visually subordinate to the altar.