The project involved a comprehensive renovation of an existing college theater in order to transform it into a premier venue for campus and community events. Our goals were to acoustically liven the space, improve distribution of sound pressure levels, eliminate echoes, and mitigate all background noise sources. Ideal acoustical performance required replacing sound absorbing elements with sound reflecting ones, making mechanical systems quieter, and providing sound isolation from outside the theater shell.
The shaping of the theater volume was developed in close coordination between architectural designers and acousticians by studying several geometrical configurations and iterations. Sound ray trace analyses were used to generate the theater form directly, with the goal of creating an ideal distribution of sound from the stage to the audience. This led to a design consisting of 259 complex and unique wall and ceiling surfaces lining this fan shaped volume.
The theater’s design is composed of three distinct elements. Large planar surfaces at the front of the theater act as a sound amplifier, forging out from the stage into the theater house and creating a visual frame. Their monolithic expanses are broken by a grid of aluminum reveals that direct the gaze towards the performance. Along the two sides of the theater, cherry veneered panels peel away from the concrete walls and saw tooth upwards over the audience, serving to direct sound toward the breadth of the theater house seating. Running perpendicular to these forms, a system of cherry veneered ceiling clouds runs in a sawtooth arc from the front to the rear of the house, optimizing sound pressure distribution longitudinally through the theater. All essential services are delivered in a concealed fashion through slender gaps between clouds.
In addition to these sculptural, sound-directing ceiling clouds, an upper isolation “lid” ceiling was designed just below the theater roof to mitigate infiltration of weather and aircraft noise. The coordination of these two ceiling layers with MEP systems in a constricted plenum was made possible by integrating a 3D laser scan of the space with a highly detailed BIM model, containing structural, mechanical/electrical and architectural systems. The mechanical systems were designed to be quieter using a combination of low airflow duct/register sizes, silencers, dampers and duct liners. A 64-channel sound system and hearing assist system compliments the unamplified acoustical performance of the space.
The original project budget was established at $5 Million with a construction cost of $4.2 Million. Based on the acoustician’s recommendations on appropriate material densities to reflect the sound in the required frequency bands, the design team researched several products from pre-engineered wood to composite phenolic panel systems. The design team decided that the best acoustical performance and value for money lay in using multilayered gypsum board and metal framing despite the complexity of the built forms. An added benefit of using gypsum board was that several gentle compound wall/ceiling curved surfaces were able to be constructed without having to be over-simplified to flat, planar surfaces, thereby maintaining the design intent originally conveyed to the client.
Material Used :
1. GKD Metal Fabrics – Railing panel infill - “Dolphin”
2. Wenger – Variable Acoustical banners – “Tranform Motorized Acoustical Banner”
3. Jacaranda / SanFoot - Natural Wood Veneer Wallcovering - “Cherry and Walnut”
4. FryReglet - Protruding Edge Profiles - “DRMPET-375” “DRMPET-100” “DRMPWR-100-75”
5. Decoustics – Demountable Acoustical Panels – “Type 10”
6. Dupont – Solid Surface Cap & Trim – “Corian: Graylite”
7. Fibertex – Acoustical Backer – “FiberAcoustic”
8. Prodema – Ventilate Wall Cladding – “ProdEX: Rustik and Mocca”
9. Forbo – Flocked Flooring Tile – “Flotex:Calgary Cement”
10. Seating Concepts LLC – Theater Seating – Performer Series “Trizart Panel”
