19 - Design of Rooms for Music

Abstract

Here we first examine the language of music and acoustics and then the influence that recording has had on acoustical design. From there we move on to look at concert halls and opera houses and their general design parameters including listening environment, size, shape, volume, materials, balconies, seating, platforms, shells, and pits. The next topic is the quantifiable acoustical attributes that can be related to hall quality and thence to a rank ordering of world concert halls. The technical components of hall quality are then discussed, including reverberation time, early reflections and clarity, envelopment, loudness, bass, diffusion, and platform acoustics. Several individual halls are then examined: Grosser Musikvereinssaal, Boston Symphony Hall, Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Hall, McDermott Hall, and Sala Sao Paulo. Finally opera halls are rank-ordered and two halls examined in detail: Teatro Colon and Teatro alla Scala.