Concrete and void: Understanding the acoustics of a parking garage

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has converted musicians at all levels of professional accomplishment into improvising buskers, brocantuers of stray sound in ad-hoc market-places. Lacking the resources to design and build new open-air venues quickly, and facing the possibility of putting group music-making activity on hold, musicians have instead repurposed available spaces. In particular, the pandemic forced the first author's university orchestra from their dedicated performance space into a nearby parking garage. It performed unexpectedly well as a space for acoustic music, in spite of its singular brutalist material and large voids to the outside air. This study, undertaken by the conductor and an acoustician, draws insight from acoustic measurements and wave-based simulations in an attempt to unravel why a space designed for the limited function of supporting cars could give a respectable acoustic showing. The satisfying nature of the shared group experience may compel a widening of our perception of what constitutes an appropriate space for acoustic music making, and a reimagining of the historical line between outdoor and indoor music.