The Center for Visual and Performing Arts is a new construction on the campus of Earlham College, conceived as the new performance and rehearsal home for the Earlham Music department. It hosts a broad spectrum of ensemble types, including dedicated rehearsal spaces for jazz, percussion, and Javanese gamelan, and a full teaching studio and practice room suite. The flexible 260-seat Lingle Recital Hall hosts performances of small- to medium-sized ensembles; seating retracts to provide a flat floor rehearsal space for full orchestra and other large ensembles. An acoustically diffusive basket-weave wooden slat treatment around the lower perimeter of the room as well as variable acoustic systems spread throughout the hall allow a wide range of interior acoustic flexibility. The building also hosts a black box studio theater programmed by the Theater Arts department, and painting, textile, ceramics, and metalworking space for the Art department. Due to the building’s compact footprint, and the high sound levels produced by the ensembles and art workspaces, extensive structural and architectural acoustic isolation measures are utilized. A centrally located recording suite with connectivity to the major performance and rehearsal spaces also functions as a teaching space for the recording arts.

Raytracing is a simple but powerful tool in acoustics consulting because of its ability to geometrically approximate wave behavior across a large portion of the audible spectrum. The use of this method requires an understanding of the frequency-dependent interaction between sound waves and geometry, which is a wave-specific behavior that any use of ray-based approximations must consider. The limitations of these approximations may necessitate geometric modifications in a model to render credible results, or may even dictate raytracing is inappropriate for a given application. Ray-based analysis can be used for applications with a wide range of complexity, from hand-traced sketches to computational simulation for full-scale rooms. Common applications include analysis of reflector coverage, design of room shape and major room components, and impulse response simulation for analysis and auralization. Due to their efficiency and simplicity, ray methods remain indispensable in architectural acoustic analysis.

When band rooms are smaller than ideal for the ensembles they support, there are safety concerns due to loudness. In the case study presented, students have experienced excessive loudness and difficult ensemble conditions due to inadequate ceiling height, absorption, and volume. This paper will discuss the strategies explored to increase acoustic volume to the extent possible within floorplate boundaries while finishing the space with a combination of absorption and diffusion. The goal of these interventions is to preserve ensemble and a sense of musicality to assure students and faculty they are working in a space designed for music rather than simply the control of loudness.

The recently completed Lindemann Performing Arts Center on the Brown University campus is an exploration in all things flexible. To satisfy the programmatic needs of Brown Arts Initiative, the primary user of this new building, who needed five rooms but only got one, the Main Hall redefined the concept of multiuse hall. All sixsurfaces that define the major acoustically supportive surfaces (ceiling elements, walls, and floors) move to manipulate the otherwise beautifully simple architectural concept into five room configurations—Orchestra, Recital, End Stage Theatre, Experimental Media, and large Flat Floor. A mix of manual and motorized curtains and banners adds still more flexibility. As the paint still dries on the building, this paper will investigate the acoustic challenges, happy accidents, and areas where we might have done with less (or more) in a building that is sometimes heavy handed and sometimes a light touch. The paper will cover topics such as glass as a major reflecting surface, wall buildups that break rules of thumb to produce warm acoustic responses, use of variable acoustic solutions, and ensemble to audience size ratios that challenge conventional wisdom.

Curtain wall construction is an aesthetically popular choice among architects for exterior glazing. It is often employed in luxury settings where the expectation of acoustic isolation is high, but the ability to achieve it is low. This is particularly an issue with regard to room-to-room isolation at curtain wall mullions. The author will present a case study involving the use of curtain wall construction in a high rise luxury hotel and including the issues with warranty and an alternative approach to improving the performance of these elements.