Audience Chamber Research Articles

SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center audio enhancement to support architecture

Opened in 1976 and without a major renovation since, the 98,000-sf SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center was in dire need of transformation. The building’s aging infrastructure needed a comprehensive modernization to meet accessibility requirements, the escalating requirements of contemporary performance, and to present a new face to the public as the premier cultural institution in the state capital. The existing theater’s acoustics represented a challenge to effectively accommodate the wide range of performance types including Broadway roadshows, the Sacramento Choral Society, and the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. Major renovations work included a complete exterior renovation; new mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and theatrical systems; and substantial updates to the interior finishes throughout the building. Providing an accessible venue to all patrons and performers was the primary goal of the project. Significant modifications to the external and internal circulation included removal of the entire audience chamber floor and new seating and aisle ways throughout. An electro-acoustic enhancement system was designed to provide an acoustically tunable audience chamber and electronic shell on stage to meet all the needs of the resident companies. Design and implementation of the electro-acoustic enhancement system will be discussed, including challenges of performer buy-in and audio orchestra shell integration.

Orchestra listening conditions—Some reflections on reflections

Over many years, the authors have worked with orchestra musicians and conductors in efforts to improve their hearing conditions onstage. Experience gained from these efforts has led to some conclusions that vary strongly from common remedial assumptions, particularly with regard to early reflected energy. Anecdotal examples from several of our projects will be presented which indicate that careful reduction of early energy onstage may offer substantial improvements in musician (and audience) responses. The rooms discussed will include experiments conducted in the Sala São Paulo, Indianapolis’ Hilbert Circle Theater, the Sala Minas Gerais, and the Ordway Concert Hall. Model studies that were conducted for the recently completed David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center revealed interesting differences between predicted onstage EDT and that of the audience chamber, suggesting that a shorter EDT in the platform zone may be beneficial and produce greater satisfaction among musicians.

Trends in performing arts center design

The world of performing arts continues to evolve. Audiences have changed. With every show, contemporary live entertainment delivers an updated, but still unique, experience. Operas of the 18th century are the Broadway shows of the 21st century. Orchestras of the 1700s are the Thievery Corporation of today. Lillie Langtry is now Lady Gaga. Performing arts centers must embrace the concept of popular entertainment inside and outside of the audience chamber to keep audiences excited, engaged, and attending. Contemporary entertainment attracts a contemporary audience—a technology-driven generation with a new set of expectations when it comes to a night at the theatre. Here are trends we’ve observed in our practice. Convertible audience rooms and floors for more versatility and flexibility; PAC reputation, space utilization, and the decline of attendance for classical symphony orchestra programming; audience immersion; creating a more social experience in the audience chamber and beyond; making a night (and day) of it with better food and beverage offerings; safety, security, and the new norm; animation of architecture. This is a discussion of the shift paradigm of performing arts centers from the classic arts to the contemporary arts and how the acoustician might respond to these contemporary trends.

Artist and Patrons: Court Art and Revolution in Brussels at the end of the Ancien Regime

This article will consider certain art objects and underlying acts of patronage in the waning days of the ancien regime in Europe, partly through a trifecta of personalities who either produced or consumed art. Michel-Paul-Joseph Dewez (1742–1804) was a Brussels goldsmith and bronze caster; James Lockhart (1727–1790) was a Scottish military officer in the Austrian service and a court official; and Prince Charles Alexandre of Lorraine (1712–1780) was the governor general of the Austrian Netherlands from 1744 until his death in 1780. The works by Dewez that form the focus of this study include a pair of silver candlesticks that he made and Lockhart bought in about 1778, a rare survival from an age that ended in chaos and catastrophe as the ancien regime fell and revolutions erupted across Europe. Dewez also produced massive quantities of gilt bronze (ormolu) ornaments for a new Audience Chamber and Grand Salon commissioned by Prince Charles Alexandre of Lorraine for his Winter Palace in Brussels. While they lasted these rooms were among the most extraordinary courtly interiors in Europe. They have not survived, and with a few exceptions their sumptuous furnishings were also consumed in the fires of the French and Brabanconne Revolutions and their aftermaths. By assembling these stories of persons, things and their interrelationships into a single narrative, it is hoped that a soupçon more of light will be cast on a tumultuous time and its art, during the twilight years of the old Europe before the advent of the modern age.

A kastély részei, berendezése és tartozékai a 16–17. századi Dunántúlon

Several country houses built in Transdanubia (western Hungary) in the early modern age, in the 16-17th centuries are still extant, though most are massively rebuilt. The original state of a mansion can be learnt from archeological investigations, old depictions as well as written sources, particularly inventories. Many of these from the leading aristocratic family archives have been studied by researchers, but the majority are still unpublished. They do not suffice for the perfect reconstruction of the original state of the layout (topography) of the buildings, but their high number allow for statistical inferences to be made about certain general characteristics of usage, furnishing, interrelation of building sections. Constant items in the inventories are: the gate, gatehouse, courtyard, “palace”, the latter including the audience chamber, rooms, staircase, etc. Only the inventories provide a glimpse of the one-time furnishing: lots of tapestries, pictures, carpets, pieces of furniture made these mansions liveable. The sources touch on the gardens in quite some detail, too. This comprehensive paper is closely tied to the author’s earlier published volumes inventorying the country houses (with source publications), and summarizes several decades of research, practical experience and archival investigations within the scope of monument protection.

1920년 창덕궁 내전 일곽의 재건에 관한 연구

Naejeon area at Chandeokgung Palace means the areas of Huijeongdang and Daejojeon area. Huijeongdang or Hall of Brilliant Rule is made for the king, and Daejojeon or Hall of Great Creation is made for the queen. These areas were located nearly and repeatedly burned down and rebuilt several times together, but their forms were largely unchanged. However in 1920, they rebuilt in a very different way. The purpose of this study was to estimate construction plans, progress and completion of Naejeon area's rebuilding. They were reconstructed into eclectic structures as the exteriors were built using basic materials from Gyeongbokgung Palace. So they have traditional-looking appearances, but the interiors consisted of modern equipments and were built by applying foreign style construction techniques. The main floored room of Daejojeon and the area of Huijeongdang were built in standing style by installing radiators and French furnitures. Also, the porch, corridor, storage space and veranda were constructed under the influence of Japanese construction. After the reconstruction, there were changes in the usage of some spaces. Huijeongdang functioned only for Alhyeonso or audience chamber rather than Pyeonjeon or state hall. New organizations created by the Japanese such as Chansi or secretaries office and the Chief secretary's office were included in Naejeon area.

Habsburg Government and Intermediary Authority under Joseph II (1780–90): The Estates of Lower Austria in Comparative Perspective

On October 18, 1783, a cortege of gala carriages escorted by liveried attendants, lackeys, and trumpeters drew up in the main courtyard of the Hofburg, the Imperial palace in Vienna. Received with military honors, it bore a deputation of the Lower Austrian Estates led by Landmarschall Count Johann Anton Pergen and that included a dozen representatives of the four orders (prelates, lords, knights, and townsmen) that composed the diet. The group ascended into the ceremonial apartments to be welcomed by the Imperial grand chamberlain, who announced its arrival. The emperor's appearance in the audience chamber prompted a short address by Pergen, to whom Joseph II then personally handed his government's annual tax demand. As his mother the Empress Maria Theresa had sometimes done on these occasions, he took advantage of Estates' attendance to raise a matter of special concern. He exhorted them “avec beaucoup de noblesse” to consider ways of revising the provincial cadastre that underlay the system of direct taxation. This prefigured one of the reign's celebrated initiatives that culminated in the great tax and peasant labor reform of 1789. Joseph's participation in a court function that dated back to the middle years of the previous reign and that was rooted in a much older ritual in which the Lower Austrian Estates had in corpore received the tax request out of the monarch's own hands largely conformed to later Theresan practice. But this would be the last time that he observed the rite. In the following year, his absence from Vienna prevented its occurrence, and in 1785 he did away with it altogether.

Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map reconsidered by Richard A. Talbert (review)

Reviewed by: Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map reconsidered by Richard A. Talbert Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen Richard A. Talbert, assisted by Nora Harris, Gannon Hubbard, David O’Brien and Graham Shepherd, with a contribution by Martin Steinmann. Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map reconsidered. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2010. Pp. xviii + 357. CDN $91.95. ISBN 9780521764803. Students of the classical world are accustomed to classify the texts and artifacts that form the basis of our research by type, genre, style, material or period, into neat categories defined and refined by generations of tidy-minded scholars. The document forming the subject of this book, however, eludes all attempts at categorization. It combines elements of text and image, road map and road-book, yet it is neither one nor the other. Its purpose is disputed: was it intended for journey planning or as ornamentation? Its original dimensions are unknown, since part of the scroll had already been lost before the present copy, measuring 6.94 meters in length by 0.33 meters in height, was produced at some time around the year 1200. According to the view of Theodor Mommsen and others, the original was derived from the wall map of Agrippa (late first century bc) while Emily Albu has recently argued that it was compiled as late as the ninth century ad. Today, the document is formally known as the Codex—which it is not—Vindobonensis 324, slightly less formally as the Tabula Peutingeriana after its onetime owner, Konrad Peutinger (1465-1547). Nothing is known about the original creator(s); Konrad Miller’s attempt to identify him as the Castorius cited by the Ravenna cosmographer earned the ridicule of many later scholars, including the authors of the present volume (133-34). Given the many uncertainties surrounding the Tabula Peutingeriana, not to mention the acerbity of the scholarly debates it has engendered, Richard Talbert and his collaborators deserve our admiration for embarking on a ten-year voyage of discovery through the world of the anonymous cartographer(s). The present volume is one product of this endeavor; another is an online [End Page 145] database, to which appendices 7 through 9 (196-286) provide a user’s guide. The larger part of the book is devoted to the origin, reception and purpose of what the authors call the Peutinger Map (henceforth PM). This is in itself a programmatic statement. Whereas most recent studies have interpreted the PM as an itinerarium pictum or route diagram, this book returns to the earlier view that the PM is a true work of cartography, i.e. an attempt at depicting the earth’s surface as a graphic image. The chapters follow an inverse chronological sequence, the first and longest (10-72) tracing the modern history of the PM since its acquisition by Konrad Peutinger and supplemented by appendices 1-6. This is followed by a brief, but rich chapter (73-85) on the medieval copy: its material, its paleography, date and place of origin (co-authored with Martin Steinmann). In Chapters 3 on “design and character” (86-122) and 4 on “recovery of the original from the surviving copy” (123-32), we move closer to Antiquity and by Chapter 5, “The Original Map” (133-57) we have reached the late Roman world in which the archetype of the PM was created. The concluding chapter discusses “the map’s place in Classical and Medieval cartography”. The book offers a number of new insights and provocative ideas, especially in Chapter 5 where Richard Talbert attempts to reconstruct the format and context of the PM’s archetype. The majority opinion among scholars holds that our twelfth-century copy reproduces a map of the later fourth century whose peculiarly elongated shape was dictated by the need to fit it onto a papyrus scroll. Talbert does not question the late fourth-century date of the version transmitted to posterity, but contends that this in its turn was based on an earlier archetype, a wall map produced under the Tetrarchy and probably displayed in the apse of an imperial audience chamber. He hypothesizes (146) that it would be natural for the apse of an aula to possess not just one...

Jeremiah's Scroll and Linked Zones of Communication

The story of Jeremiah's Scroll and its journey (Jer 36) uses a spatial strategy to link together a set of four separate and distinct locations. They function as part of a chain of events and a series of staged readings. Using a dictated scroll and a professional scribe as his surrogates, the prophet is able to reach into the most restricted realms of authority. His message to the people of Jerusalem will follow a path from his own hidden chambers to the temple complex and on to the office suite in the royal palace. Eventually, the scroll will be read before the king in his private audience chamber completing a journey that has forged a chained linkage of readings and evoked a variety of reactions. What becomes clear in these linked scenes is the manner in which significant space can be manipulated and shaped to achieve the aims of the storyteller.

Irma the Deuce: Genet’s The Balcony and Some Problems of Bisexuality

Rereading Jean Genet’s The Balcony in preparation for writing this paper, I was reminded of an experience I had in Istanbul, Turkey, where I lived in 1989. While there, I worked for an English-language newspaper, and one of my assignments was to write a feature story about the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. I interviewed the patriarch (Demetrios I, who died in 1991) in his audience chamber, a large and shabby room in the patriarchal compound, in a seedy neighbourhood on the southern bank of the Golden Horn, which then smelled, on most days, of untreated sewage. The patriarchate is one of the last remnants of Greek culture in Turkey: the patriarchate’s ability to remain in Istanbul is underwritten by international convention, but its presence in Turkey, since the Turkish War of Independence in the 1920s and the eradication of Greek culture (and Greeks!) in Anatolia, has barely been tolerated by successive Turkish governments.

The value of utilizing binaural dummy head recordings in evaluating physical acoustic changes in concert halls

In some instances, after a concert hall is built there may be a need to modify the physical environment of the space through the application of diffusion or absorptive surfaces, the addition of reflector systems or the repositioning of the orchestra in the space. Prior to moving forward with suggested changes to the physical environment, it has been customary to conduct evaluation rehearsals with physical mock-ups installed to confirm the acousticians recommendations. Questionnaires are given to the musicians, the conductor and the administration staff to document the effect of the changes, and physical measurements are taken before and after the installation of the mock-ups. The questionnaires can be difficult to correlate and the differences in data resulting from the physical measurements may be too small to properly evaluate. More recently, Jaffe Holden Acoustics has added dummy head recordings to the mix. These recordings are extremely representative of what a human hears and one can place these devices in various locations on stage and in the audience chamber. The recordings create a permanent record of the event and the results of subsequent A/B evaluation can be more closely correlated to render judgments.

The silence of the God who speaks

Silence is of many sorts. There's the silence of the countryside on a still winter's night, when all the animals are sleeping and all the insects hibernating. There's the silence of Amsterdam on the eve of the fifth of May, when the entire old city halts for two minutes to memorialize those who fell in the war and were silenced. There's the silence of the mute, and the silence of rocks, hills, and valleys. There's silence in music, silence as essential to the music as the sounds. There's the silence of the audience chamber when the imminent entrance of the queen is announced. And there's the hush of the cosmos that the Psalmist enjoins when he announces: “The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.” The silence of which I will be speaking is unlike all of those. It's the silence of the biblical God – the biblical God being a God who is not only capable of speaking but also has on many occasions spoken. More specifically, I will be speaking of the biblical silence of the biblical God. The biblical silence of God is the non-answering silence of God. It's like the silence of the parent who doesn't answer when the child asks “Why? Why did it happen? Where were you?”

There’s nothing Majestic about burlesque

Turn-of-the-century vaudeville and movie palaces initially seem to lend themselves to use as concert halls or multipurpose theatres. Basic features, including existing structure, appropriate location, and desirable seat count, already exist. But, upon further investigation, these palaces present both acoustical and theatrical limitations. Specifically, shallow stage depth, undersized stage wings, small orchestra pit, deep balcony overhangs, and low ceiling height in stage house and/or audience chamber are common deficiencies which must be addressed in successful conversions. Despite these challenges, converting an existing building is often a viable option for many communities. This paper will investigate several representative palaces which were modified to accommodate modern symphonic and theatrical productions between 1959 and the present.

A case study: Transforming a vaudeville theatre into a 21st century multi-purpose hall

Originally constructed in 1927 as an atmospheric, vaudeville theatre, the Coronado enjoyed 50 years as host to a true variety of events. In the 1970s, functional and space limitations became a catalyst for touring events to avoid the Coronado, and the theatre fell into disrepair. In the mid-1990s, a renovation was planned (completed January 2001) to restore the glory of the original theatre and upgrade it to be a viable multi-purpose hall for the 21st century. By annexing two neighboring buildings, many of the space limitations could be overcome in both the front- and back-of-house. The scope included a significantly enlarged stage and stagehouse, performer support spaces, expanded lobby spaces, quiet ventilation systems, and a new music rehearsal room. Acoustically, a primary goal was to upgrade the hall for both reinforced music/theatre performances and unreinforced, orchestral performances. However, historical regulations prevented modification to the room shape and configuration. In order to make the room suitable for unreinforced music, two primary acoustic features were instituted—a semi-custom concert enclosure for the stage and an acoustic enhancement system for the audience chamber. For theatrical and popular music events, a new performance audio system was designed and integrated into the hall.

When all sound is mere reflections

For many decades in the recent past, impulse response measurements have been performed in music and drama spaces to assess the clarity of sound and ease of communication offered on a stage or within the audience chamber. Much of the focus has been on the strength and timing of early sound reflections arriving within 80 or so ms following the direct sound. Generally, the thought and design process revolve around an unoccluded, straight-line path between source and receiver. This paper, however, presents the results of numerous studies and completed buildings in which excellent communication has been achieved in drama and music conditions where the direct sound is attenuated due to source directivity factors and/or obstructions normally encountered within rooms. Results of computer model studies, photos of completed spaces and acoustic data will be presented along with general conclusions.

The new Konzertsaal of the KKL Center, Lucerne, Switzerland. I. Acoustics design

The 1840 seat concert hall is the first of three halls that will eventually make up the Culture and Convention Center in Lucerne. It was inaugurated on 19 August 1998 to widespread critical acclaim. The hall is the home of the Lucerne International Music Festival, one of the most prestigious international festivals dedicated to symphonic music. The room will first be presented and illustrated, and an outline will be given of the basic acoustics design features such as room shape, seat count, and balcony design. Then, focus will shift to more specific acoustic design features, such as the reverberance chamber surrounding the main audience chamber, the two-part moving canopy with both horizontal and vertical reflecting surfaces, and the acoustically diffusing surface finish on most of the side wall area of the hall.

Variable-volume/coupled-volume response at Sala Julio Prestes

Sala Julio Prestes (opening in early 1999) is an adaptive conversion of a railway station in São Paulo, Brazil into a traditional ‘‘shoe-box’’ concert hall. A unique feature of this 1600-seat room is the ceiling, formed in 15 large, tightly spaced, coffered panels. The nine central panels can be raised or lowered independently, while the six edge panels move in symmetric pairs. When the ceiling pieces move together, the room volume can be incrementally adjusted, from a minimum of approximately 12<th>000 m3 to a maximum of about 28<th>000 m3. When the pieces are placed at different levels, various coupled-volume conditions between the lower audience chamber and the volume above the ceiling are also possible. The coupled response is further tunable by provision of absorptive banners which can be deployed in the space above the ceiling panels. Acoustic measurements and binaural recordings of orchestral excerpts in this room with an audience are planned for late 1998 and early 1999. This paper presents preliminary results of these efforts, including recorded musical examples played with various ceiling configurations.

Controlling subway noise in the LG Arts Center—Sangnam Hall

The LG Arts Center in Seoul, Korea is a multifunction facility including a Hall intended for a variety of performances including western drama and dance, chamber music, traditional Korean folklore plays, opera, oration, and digital recordings. The 1050 seat Hall is designed to guard against both airborne and groundborne noise. Airborne noise is controlled by enclosing the stage house and the audience chamber with 200-mm airspace double walls. Horizontal and vertical acoustical joints at the Hall structure interface with the main building and control groundborne noise generated by the subway trains in a tunnel adjacent to the site. The subway tunnel and the foundation structure of the building are in the same rock strata and the groundborne noise is transmitted as structure-borne noise to the Hall through the lower-level parking structures. Without isolation the noise from the subway would have intrusive effects on the multifunctional use of the performance hall and stage area. Vibration isolation rubber bearings are provided in the interface design to reduce the noise to acceptable levels in the noise critical space. The impact of the proposed isolation bearing pads on the building design and their acoustical benefits are discussed.

Broadening the range of variable reverberance.

Variable sound absorbing banners, curtains, and panels have been incorporated into many performing arts facilities over the past two decades. These passive systems allow the building users to reduce the level and/or length of the reverberance from what would be the basic decay of the room. These systems are typically used to provide a dry acoustical environment for sound system use and some portions of the classical repertoire. Recently, several halls have been completed that make use of partially coupled reverberation chambers to increase the level and/or length of reverberance without changing the basic shape, dimensions, or materials in the audience chamber. With operable shutters at the boundary between the audience chamber and reverberation chamber and with sound absorbing curtains in the reverberation chamber, the overall reverberant decay can be tailored to provide a long decay without significant decrease in clarity. Issues of volume, surface area, coupling area, materials, shape, and location of the reverberation chamber will be discussed.

Excavations at Fishbourne, 1965. Fifth Interim Report

The excavations of 1965 were largely concerned with the examination of the field containing the east and west wings of the palace and the Great Court which lies between them. As last year's work had almost completed the outline plan of the palace, the 1965 season was concentrated upon the detailed examination of the audience chamber and the entrance hall, the sample excavation of the garden about which practically nothing was known, and the area excavation of those parts of the timber and early masonry buildings belonging to the first-period settlement which had not previously been examined. In addition to this, trial trenches were cut through the newly acquired market-garden to the west of the main site, and further trenching was carried out in the fields to the north of the north wing and the field to the south of the modern main road. The final excavation of the north wing of the palace has been postponed until next season, after the construction of the modern cover-building has been completed.