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Outdoor Performance Spaces
Architectural Acoustics II
April 10, 2008
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Design Challenges
• Large audience size Sufficient level for all seats Sightlines
• Lack of reflecting surfaces Envelopment Intimacy
• Noise control Nearby noise sources Disturbing the neighbors
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Examples
• Koussevitzky Music Shed, Tanglewood, Lenox MA
• Benedict Music Tent, Aspen CO
• Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, Lenox MA
• Pritzker Music Pavilion, Chicago IL
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Koussevitzky Music Shed• Opened in 1938, re-opened in 1959 after an
acoustical renovation• Design Team
Original Architects: Joseph Franz and Eliel Saarinen Renovation Architect: Eero Saarinen and Associates Renovation Acoustician: Bolt, Beranek, and Newman
• 5120 covered seats and lawn seating for an additional 10000
• Construction 3/4” fiberboard walls Packed dirt floor 0.5” plywood stage enclosure with “randomly and heavily
braced” 0.5” plywood canopy No padding on the seats
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
http://www.berkshirefinearts.com/images/upload/images/337_Tanglewood_1.jpg
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
L. Beranek, “Concert and Opera Halls: How They Sound”
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/outoftown/massachusetts/berkshires/tanglewood/index.htm
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
http://haydnphil.org/images/newsletter/musicshed.jpg
The canopy is 50% open to provide early reflections to the musicians and audience and to allow sufficient energy into the upper volume to develop reverberation.
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
F. Johnson et al., “Orchestra Enclosure and Canopy for the Tanglewood Music Shed,” JASA 33 (4), pp. 475 – 481, 1961.
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
L. Beranek, “Concert and Opera Halls: How They Sound”
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
L. Beranek, “Concert and Opera Halls: How They Sound”
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
F. Johnson et al., “Orchestra Enclosure and Canopy for the Tanglewood Music Shed,” JASA 33 (4), pp. 475 – 481, 1961.
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Koussevitzky Music Shed• “It is the only place that houses a very large audience,
5121 listeners, under acoustical conditions that rival the best in America.”
• “Even though the sides of the Shed are open to a height of about 15 feet, the reverberation behaves like that in a regular auditorium.”
• “It has been suggested that the optimum reverberation time, 1.9 sec at mid-frequencies, fully occupied, and the BR (1.45, ‘far greater than Boston’s 1.03’) so enhance the effectiveness of this type of canopy that lateral reflections are not necessary to give a feeling of spaciousness.
L. Beranek, “Concert and Opera Halls: How They Sound”
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Koussevitzky Music Shed
F. Johnson et al., “Orchestra Enclosure and Canopy for the Tanglewood Music Shed,” JASA 33 (4), pp. 475 – 481, 1961.
• “The partially open lower side and rear walls are, acoustically, equivalent to people seated on stadium seats at the edge of the actual audience.”
• “One has to move almost 1500 feet from the Shed to lose the sense of the music”
• “Most people, on first hearing, are convinced that an elaborate system of electrical amplification has been installed, but in actual fact there is not a single speaker in the hall.”
• “… if one attempted to provide music for 6000 to 12000 listeners in a narrow rectangular hall, the visual problem and the decrease in loudness at the rear would be intolerable.”
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Benedict Music Tent
• Opened Summer 2000• Design Team
Architect: Harry Teague Architects Acoustician: Kirkegaard Associates Theater Consultant: Auerbach + Associates
• 2050 covered seats + additional lawn seating• Construction
Concert-hall-like stage enclosure Tensioned membrane roof over most of the audience Solid disc ceiling over the center of the audience Canvas reflectors
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Benedict Music Tent
Images courtesy of Harry Teague Architects
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Benedict Music Tent
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Benedict Music Tent
Spray-coated canvas reflector with steel frame
Retractable Fabrisorb banners
Corridors
Recording Studio
Dressing Room
Image courtesy of Kirkegaard Associates
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Benedict Music Tent
• Stage-Area Construction 12-inch grout-filled masonry walls with wood finish directly applied Resiliently supported plywood and tongue-and-groove wood floor over
concrete 4-inch thick tongue-and-groove wood ceiling Canvas reflectors
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Benedict Music Tent
• Stage-Area Construction 12-inch grout-filled masonry walls with wood finish directly applied Resiliently supported plywood and tongue-and-groove wood floor over
concrete 4-inch thick tongue-and-groove wood ceiling Canvas reflectors
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Benedict Music TentCanvas reflectors at rear and sides of audience area
Retractable absorptive banners
Operable louversClosed OpenImages courtesy of Kirkegaard Associates
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Benedict Music Tent
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Benedict Music Tent
Image courtesy of Harry Teague Architects
Data from Hoffman et al., “Halls for Music Performance,” and courtesy of Kirkegaard Assoc.
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Benedict Music Tent
http://www.aspenmusicfestival.com/images/uploads/Benedict_Music_Tent.jpg
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Seiji Ozawa Hall
• Opened July 1994
• Design Team Architect: William Rawn Associates Acoustician: Kirkegaard Associates Theater Consultant: Theatre Projects Consultants
• 1180 seats inside, lawn seating for ~3000
• Interesting audio system for lawn seats (details shortly)
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Seiji Ozawa Hall
Image courtesy of Kirkegaard AssociatesImage courtesy of Theatre Projects Consultants
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Seiji Ozawa Hall
http://www.kathymccurdy.com/DSCN6389.JPGhttp://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/outoftown/massachusetts/berkshires/
tanglewood/index.htm
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Seiji Ozawa Hall
Image courtesy of Kirkegaard AssociatesImage courtesy of Theatre Projects Consultants
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Seiji Ozawa Hall
Quote from www.kirkegaard.com
The rear wall of the facility opens to allow patrons seated on the lawn to experience performances through a state-of-the-art sound system. This system uses a sophisticated microphone array to pick up natural sound within the hall, then broadcasts this same sound through a digital delay to speaker columns located in corresponding locations on the main lawn. When combined with a precedence loudspeaker source mounted above the rear opening wall, the system gives a startlingly realistic effect. The natural sound of the concert hall is effortlessly extended to reach the 3000-plus patrons on the lawn.
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Seiji Ozawa Hall
Image courtesy of Kirkegaard Associates
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A Few Others
Koka Booth Amphitheatre at Regency Park Cary, NC (www.kirkegaard.com)
Blockbuster Desert Sky PavilionPhoenix, Arizona
(www.jaffeholden.com)
And now Pritzker…
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A Few Others
Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga, NY
(http://www.rlorelli.com/Project%20Photos/SaratogaPAC-1.jpg)
And now Pritzker…
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/06/24/arts/24sara.ready.html