Archinect - News

Two years ahead of schedule, Diamond Schmitt/TWBTA's David Geffen Hall revamp is ready to debut at Lincoln Center

2022-09-27T18:23:00-04:00

A revamp inside one of America’s most important cultural venues is ready to debut two years ahead of schedule (and reportedly on budget) after the project team behind Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall in Manhattan announced an October 8th public opening date on Tuesday.

NYC's redesigned new "cultural living room" is the product of a collaboration between cultural sector heavyweights Diamond Schmitt Architects and Tod Williams Billie Tsien (TWBTA), noted acoustician Paul Scarbrough of Akustiks, and theater design specialist Joshua Dachs of Fisher Dachs Associates.

The project's scope includes an acoustical and seating arrangement overhaul of the New York Philharmonic's main Wu Tsai Theater performance space, the creation of a new restaurant and 1,680-square-foot Welcome Center, new multipurpose Sidewalk Studios, and the reconfiguration of public spaces around the building that was originally designed by Max Abramovitz in 1962.

Video courtesy of Lincoln Center for the Performing A...

Sydney Opera House completes extensive concert hall renovation

2022-07-05T12:47:00-04:00

After two years of renovations, a room once blighted by poor acoustics and outdated machinery can now accommodate musicians previously turned away, with a push of a button

Ahead of its 50th birthday next year, the famed Jørn Utzon-designed Sydney Opera House is set to present the newly renovated concert hall which sought to remedy significant acoustics and accessibility issues.

Andrew Haveron, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster, seemed more than pleased with the improved sound performance of the upgraded concert hall, telling The Guardian: "You can hear every minute detail now, every nuance — right up to the back row, everything pings through. It’s a miracle."

The project, led by ARM Architecture, commenced in early 2020 and will officially open to the public on July 20th.

Previously on Archinect: Sydney Opera House closes for its first major renovation

Sensory Urbanism: Researchers make the case for fighting 'visual bias in urban planning'

2022-06-14T19:51:00-04:00

The work of Concordia University Centre for Sensory Studies director David Howes and other researchers working in the growing field of sensory urbanism was recently highlighted by Jennifer Hattam of MIT Technology Review.

A wide range of methods ranging from the high-tech and data-driven, to more ethnographic and experience-based ones, are being used as a means to combat the “limiting visual bias” they see as inherent in most urban planning schemes. Hattam writes, "Around the world, researchers like Howes are investigating how nonvisual information defines the character of a city and affects its livability. Using methods ranging from low-tech sound walks and smell maps to data scraping, wearables, and virtual reality, they’re fighting what they see as a limiting visual bias in urban planning."

Previously reported on Archinect: Cooper Hewitt's sensory-focused exhibition, “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision”

Early real-world applications in Berlin, London, Barcelona, and Instanbul have ...

Turn like a wheel inside a wheel: Steinmetz Hall is almost ready to move and groove in Orlando

2022-01-11T18:49:00-05:00

Future generations of concertgoers in the Orlando area will want a ticket to commemorate the moment the city’s dynamic new $612 million performance venue makes its theatrical debut at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts this Friday.

Designed by former UCLA faculty member Barton Myers, Steinmetz Hall is a mechanical wonder made even more remarkable by the way its form can be shifted to adapt to one of the building’s myriad uses. The concert hall has a maximum seating capacity of 1,650 and consists of multiple layouts that can be applied to a variety of individual types of musical and artistic performances.

Photo courtesy Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

With help from Gala Systems, Myers created a series of interchangeable components that can be rearranged seamlessly according to need. A retractable acoustic shell is moved in and out of place thanks to 65 feet of track that facilitates the theater’s biggest area of public use as a concert hall. Additional space...

San Francisco's bridge authority is finally moving forward to amend the Golden Gate's noisy new feature

2021-12-14T16:38:00-05:00

The maddening hum of safety slats on the pedestrian handrails of the Golden Gate Bridge will finally be silenced under a recently released proposal by the Bridge District. The fix — devised and tested by bridge engineers in consultation with aerodynamic and acoustic experts — calls for attaching U-shaped clips containing a thin rubber sleeve to all 12,000 vertical slats on the railings.

The haunting acoustic hum is the direct result of a $12 million wind retrofit project authored by the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District. A few enterprising locals have made the most of the deafening din, although the majority of drivers in the Bay Area were vocally against it, leading to the change.

The newly-approved upgrades will install a series of sound-absorbing rubber clips along the bridge’s pedestrian walkway that can mitigate the effects of the larger wind safety slats by up to 75%, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The costs will run around $450,000 and will be completely installed by the end of next year barring any major delays.

“It’s a tricky business. We want to be absolutely sure we get it right,” bridge spokesman Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz told the Chronicle back in May. “We will never sacrifice the structural integrity of the bridge, but we want to be responsive to our neighbors.’’

OPEN Architecture's new performance venue offers us a study in acoustical petrology

2021-12-01T15:04:00-05:00

A fascinating addition to the Chinese cultural program has come online this week with the completion of OPEN Architecture’s Chapel of Sound in Chengde, Hebei Province.

Overlooking the ruins of one of China’s most important historic sites, the Ming Dynasty-era Great Wall, the concert hall is made entirely of concrete and enriched with an admixture of minerally-heavy local rocks, encasing a semi-outdoor amphitheater, viewing platform, green room, and outdoor stage. A striated envelope is formed via a series of staggered cantilevers which rise from the rocks below to create an organic-looking profile its designers say is in perfect harmony with the surrounding landscape and sky above.

Inside the building, a slate of winding staircases meanders their way through the structure leading up to the rooftop which offers dynamic views of the valley and the nearby Great Wall.

The building’s form is derived principally from the outsized value the arc...

Ohio State researchers discover new method for designing soundproof spaces

2021-08-12T13:07:00-04:00

A new study by researchers out of The Ohio State University investigates a different kind of design for absorbing vibrations that could better soundproof materials.

Ryan Harne, senior author of the paper and former associate professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State, along with former Ohio State doctoral student Sih-Ling Yeh, tested how well built-in resonators handled vibrations under a variety of scenarios. Resonators are devices that use spring-like oscillation to control and change vibrations. Some absorb and neutralize them, and others amplify and direct them to specific places. They’re present in some vehicles, which use them to limit the sound emitted from a car’s muffler. Bridges and buildings also utilize them to limit noise and movement.

Contrary to previous studies relating to resonators, which focused on adding one to an existing structure or vehicle part, Harne and Yeh considered embedding resonators directly into a material, rather than adding it later.

Ryan ...

Frank Gehry's new Youth Orchestra Los Angeles facility gets a first sound check

2021-06-01T17:45:00-04:00

The Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Youth Orchestra Los Angeles recently tried out the nearly completed Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center. That is the dilapidated former bank building and Burger King in downtown Inglewood that architect Frank Gehry has transformed into a fabulous performance space and teaching facility for young musicians.

Plans for a Gehry Partners-envisioned permanent home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Youth Orchestra first appeared on Archinect in 2017, followed by more concrete designs for the future Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center in LA's Inglewood neighborhood a year later.

Previously on Archinect: Gehry Partners reveal new design for the LA Phil Youth Orchestra. Aerial model view of the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center @ Inglewood, concert configuration. Photo courtesy of Gehry Partners, LLP.

As with its other Gehry-designed flagship facility, the Walt Disney Concert Hall which opened in Downtown Los Angeles in 2003, LA Phil worked with the team of acclaimed acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota again.

UNStudio and Delta Light partner to create hybrid light and soundscape system focused on human wellbeing

2021-01-29T08:54:00-05:00

UNStudio and Delta Light have partnered to create Soliscape, a flexible system that allows for the personalization and customization of light and acoustic conditions in the workplace.

"The way we work, live, and relax is changing," said Ben van Berkel, founder of UNStudio. "This new hybrid world is causing architects and designers to rethink how we design our cities and buildings so that we can create places that encourage health and wellbeing. Lighting is a very crucial element in helping us to create such places."

In addition to the workplace, the system has a broad range of applications and can be used in hotels, hospitality, retail, and public spaces.

"Looking at lighting as just a basic necessity is an outdated approach," said Peter Ameloot of Delta Light, in a statement. "Work environments, in particular, require extra attention, where user-centric lighting has proven to considerably boost productivity and wellbeing. With Soliscape we even take it to the next level, not just ...

This new 'acoustic metamaterial' can cancel the sounds of anything—without blocking airflow

2019-03-11T14:16:00-04:00

A team of Boston University researchers recently stuck a loudspeaker into one end of a PVC pipe. They cranked it up loud. What did they hear? Nothing. How was this possible? Did they block the other end of the pipe with noise canceling foams or a chunk of concrete? No, nothing of the sort. The pipe was actually left open save for a small, 3D-printed ring placed around the rim. That ring cut 94% of the sound blasting from the speaker, enough to make it inaudible to the human ear.

"The mathematically designed, 3D-printed acoustic metamaterial is shaped in such a way that it sends incoming sounds back to where they came from," explain the Boston University researchers behind the discovery: Xin Zhang, a professor at the College of Engineering, and Reza Ghaffarivardavagh, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. "Inside the outer ring, a helical pattern interferes with sounds, blocking them from transmitting through the open center while preserving air's ability to flow through."

Precisely this capacity of maintaining airflow and enabling light to shine through while muting nearly all of the noise opens up a vast field of practical applications, including architectural.

Acoustic architecture and the geometry of "focalizers"

2017-11-30T12:41:00-05:00

Entering into a new space means stepping into a new acoustic arena. Whether subconscious or at the forefront of our attention, the way sound resonates in a built environment is part of a crafted experience influencing how people relate to a space. The presence of a circle or semi circle in architecture produces a specific phenomena which many encounter in passing. When an individual passes through the exact center of a dome their own voice is reflected back to them louder than any other sound in the present environment.

Classified by some as “focalizers”, these instances occur predominantly in cathedrals or capital domes. Where some may simply pass through, others seek out this center point to experience their own private arena of sound. The acoustical reflection is immediate, clear, and amplified above any other surrounding noise.

Whispering Gallery in Grand Central Terminal.

A related phenomenon is the "whispering wall", which occurs along a curved surface carrying even the slig...

New $150M PTFE membrane roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium blocks the rain but not the noise

2016-09-06T12:59:00-04:00

Watch professional tennis, and you'll notice that silence makes up a significant part of the game, to the point where spectators can hear the bounce of the ball each time it lands on the playing surface. The acoustics of the new Rossetti Architects-designed roof for the Arthur Ashe stadium, which reportedly is amplifying crowd conversations when it it closed as well being so noisy during a recent rainstorm that according to John McEnroe it's "hard to hear yourself think," are problematic. Ironically, the 210,00 square foot PTFE membraned retractable roof was installed partly to avoid rain delays during play. As BusinessInsider.com notes:

"It turns out that even casual conversations among fans were amplified as the noise reverberated inside. The roof was eventually fully closed during the second set, and the atmosphere reportedly sounded more like a ballpark and not like a tennis venue the players are used to."

Bi-parting Fixed Fabric Shell

For more in sporty architectural news:

HOK wi...

“You miss it when it’s gone”: On New Yorkers' addiction to noise

2016-08-02T14:28:00-04:00

To live in New York means to get habituated to the noise of everyday life here...As a neighborhood becomes more homogenous, and its residents sync their noise patterns, noise complaints tend to go down. This may explain why, controlling for other factors, gentrifying areas of the city display higher levels of noise complaints. City residents stop consciously recognizing noise as novel, and it becomes background, even if their bodies don’t always recognize it as such.

“We all love to hate the noise. And yet sitting in silence, I do not feel as if I’ve found an escape from pain: I have simply traded it for a new variety. Shockingly, I realize I want to trade back.”

Writer Susie Neilson delves into the pros and cons of urban noise pollution, a truly defining factor of living in NYC.

Have you listened to your building?

2016-01-20T14:46:00-05:00

Derek Sugden, the dean of acoustic engineers, who has died at the age of 91, remained perpetually surprised that architects could be so concerned with every aspect of the building they were designing ‘but not really with what it sounded like’. According to Sugden, ‘the sound is as important as the surface and the feel. It’s important because our ears define for me the nature of space.’

So not everyone can be Yasuhisa Toyota, but still: paying attention to the acoustics of a space should be a vital component of the architectural design process, yeah?

Related:

For nebulous decibel numbers, the Silent Treatment

2016-01-06T01:00:00-05:00

The primary strategy for blocking airborne sound is to add a layer of dense, flexible material to the problem surface...Stopping vibration-borne noise is usually trickier and more expensive. It requires suspending walls, ceilings or floors so that the vibrations aren’t conducted to a building’s framing, which can transmit sound throughout a building...A compounding issue is that it takes only a very small gap to let in a lot of sound.

Roy Furchgoff surveys the noise-control industry, which at least anecdotally in New York is growing.

Related and recently, architecture critic Michael Kimmelman and producers Alicia DeSantis, Jon Huang and Graham Roberts documented the sounds of some archetypal NYC spaces.

Take a listen to the NYT's beautiful sonic portraits of architectural spaces

2015-12-29T17:45:00-05:00

we rarely talk about how architecture sounds, aside from when a building or room is noisy. [...] Sound may be invisible or only unconsciously perceived, but that doesn’t make it any less an architectural material than wood, glass, concrete, stone or light. [...] Acoustics can act in deep, visceral ways, not unlike music ... And while it’s sometimes hard to pin down exactly how, there is often a correlation between the function of a place or an object and the sound we expect it to make.

Architecture critic Michael Kimmelman and producers Alicia DeSantis, Jon Huang and Graham Roberts document the sounds of some archetypal city spaces, conveying the personality and subtle (or sometimes not) musicality of interiors.

LEGO Architecture launches new student acoustic-design challenge to restore a destroyed music theater

2015-07-22T14:29:00-04:00

Following a successful inaugural event last year, LEGO Architecture is presenting another opportunity for architecture students in the Villa Pennisi in Musica 2015 summer workshop to hone their acoustic-design and LEGO-building skills in the upcoming #FILLTHETHEATRE challenge.

Taking place in August at the Villa Pennisi in Italy, the workshop challenge is part of the 15-day Villa Pennisi in Musica festival that brings together classical music, architecture, and performance design. Attendees get to check out live music performances, exhibitions, lectures, and presentations by major classical musicians and notable practitioners in architecture and sound design.

Using the 1,200-piece monochromatic LEGO Architecture Studio sets, students will build scale models of indoor structures that will amplify the acoustics of the historic Teatro Bellini of Acireale, a baroque theater that was destroyed in a fire in the 1960s. The theater was only partially reconstructed, but is no longer in use due...

LEGO Architecture to launch in Europe at the Italian “Villa Pennisi in Musica” event this August

2014-07-15T19:19:00-04:00

LEGO Architecture is making its European debut on August 1 in the "Villa Pennisi in Musica" event at the 19th-century Pennisi Villa in Italy. The event is part of a program that brings an Italian architecture summer school and a classical music masterclass under the same roof.

Architecture students will use LEGO Architecture to form their ideas as they explore ways to design and build a wooden acoustic shell for the event's outdoor chamber music performances — in less than 10 days.

Master acoustician, Yasuhisa Toyota, talks about kickstarting his career with the Disney Concert Hall

2013-09-20T14:59:00-04:00

"Our collaboration has been since 1989, and now it's long-term," Toyota says of Gehry. "With Frank, I learned many, many things." Chief among them, he says: "Flexibility." "His thinking is very free and without restrictions. His spirit and creative mind is [open]. And we were able to work together in this way," Toyota says. During the construction of Disney Hall, Toyota, ... was inspired by Gehry's design and perfected what he sees as his personal style of acoustics.

Creating Energy from Noise Pollution

2013-03-26T01:10:00-04:00

Soundscrapers could soon turn urban noise pollution into usable energy to power cities. An honourable mention-winning entry in the 2013 eVolo Skyscraper Competition, dubbed Soundscraper, looked into ways to convert the ambient noise in urban centres into a renewable energy form. Noise pollution is currently a negative element of urban life but it could soon be valued and put to good use.

Hearing the Future of Architecture

2012-10-23T12:01:00-04:00

Last week, Raj Patel, principal and acoustic consultant at Arup treated the crowd at Yale School of Architecture’s Sound of Architecture Symposium to a presentation on his company’s Sound Lab. The Sound Lab uses a battery of speakers arranged in a spherical configuration to mimic the acoustic properties of a digital architectural model. In real time, designers can change the shape of a hall, the material of the seats, the angle of the walls, and hear how it might affect the acoustics...

The "Golden Age of the concert hall"?

2012-05-10T12:05:00-04:00

Victoria Newhouse - "aesthetically I think they are greatly improved from what we had before...they're smaller and more intimate...more inviting...they are acoustically improved...and many of them have the ability to be reconfigured...all of this leads to a very exciting scene"

Victoria Newhouse author of The Architecture and Acoustics of New Opera Houses and Concert Halls along with Daniel Libeskind, Michael Kaiser and Renee Fleming were on Charlie Rose last month, to discuss the current explosion of "literally hundreds" of new opera houses and concert halls under construction. In a recent review for the Wall Street Journal, Ada Louise Huxtable summing up the lesson of the book wrote "But Ms. Newhouse has learned that ideal acoustics are not even necessary for a hall to succeed. The essential factor is ambience".