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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