The restoration of La Fenice in Venice: The consultant’s viewpoint

Abstract

Following the destruction by a fire of La Fenice in Venice, an extremely complex process was set in motion to attempt to rebuild the opera house as soon as possible. In this instance, acoustics is of utmost importance but it tends to be overshadowed by many other technical economical, and political requirements. Other major problems have surfaced, among which are the following: Very few opera houses, including La Fenice, are correctly documented from the point of view of acoustics; the leaders of such projects are not always aware of the impact of acoustics; the science of opera house acoustics is incomplete, to say the least. In the case of La Fenice, the decision was made to reconstruct it ‘‘as was’’ through a series of discussions with experts and users, and a well organized and efficient competition was set up. The present paper will attempt to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this process, from the point of view of the ‘‘acoustics’’ referee.