Megaron (Dec 2020)
An Evaluation of the Effect of the Architectural Design of Concert Halls On Holistic Acoustic Quality
Abstract
The architectural configuration of a concert hall plays an important role in the acoustic quality and overall achievement of the venue's purpose. There are many complex elements to be considered that contribute subtle yet important differences to the experience of the listener and the performer, including volume and plan type. The acoustic quality of a concert hall depends upon achieving an acceptable distribution of volume and other parameter values. That is, providing a satisfactory acoustic effect for each listener. The ratio of listener positions with acceptable results to the total listener area is an important consideration in the effort to create holistic acoustic quality. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of architectural form and acoustic parameters on the experience at all listener positions and the overall acoustic quality based on the typology of recently constructed concert halls. Concert halls around the world built since 2000 were analyzed and categorized according to plan type. The 3 most frequently used hall types, the traditional shoebox, the revised shoebox, and the vineyard style plan, were modeled with provisions for similar volume, audience capacity, volume per listener using Odeon software, version 15 (Odeon AS, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark). Four volume acoustics parameters were evaluated and compared: reverberation time (T30), clarity (C80), early decay time (EDT), and lateral energy fraction (LF). Listener areas in each hall were divided into grids and the quality of each parameter in each grid area was evaluated. Variation from the acceptable average values was observed in all 3 hall types in terms of zonal parameters and listener positions in different zones. Listener positions within zones where all of the parameters were within the acceptable range also varied in all hall types. The classic shoebox and improved shoebox types contained more positions in the optimum range and holistic acoustic quality than the vineyard plan. The average values are not an indication of the same acoustic quality at all positions of the hall, and plan typology affects the overall acoustic quality. The findings of this study show that calculations of small regions of the listener area will provide more accurate results of the effect of the objective parameter values of different concert hall plan typologies on the overall acoustic quality. This observation could contribute to the design of concert halls.
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