Larry Hoy, of Renovata Studios, Inc. tells the story of how a tennis stadium in Forest Hills, NY was transformed into a church for a day. The event was the Millennium mass celebrated by the Diocese of Brooklyn/Queens, and the location was Arthur Ashe Stadium. In addition to a sanctuary space for the celebration of the mass, a chapel for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was needed.  Hoy recalls how the design team stood in the 10,000-square-foot player’s lounge looking up at the 40-foot ceilings, and realized the space called out for more than a typical 18” monstrance or tabernacle, and so “the idea of suspending something from the ceiling and making it an architectural presence developed.”  That “something” turned out to be a monstrance suited to the scale of the space, and which was easily visible from any location.[7]

Renovata Studios, Inc. Giant monstrance suspended from trusswork in the Arthur Ashe Stadium player’s lounge for Brooklyn/Queens Millenium Mass.

Intricate design suspended from monofilament fishing line

Dance troupe building the altar in Arthur Ashe Stadium from “stones in the field” (large blocks of brownstone)

Millenium Mass in Arthur Ashe stadium with parish banners behind.

[7] Larry Hoy (President at Renovata Studios Inc), in discussion with the author, April, 2014.