Music and Architecture

Music and Architecture

Abstract
Architecture and the shape of a space have always influenced the performance and creation
of music both mediums rely on proportion and harmony to produce the best results. Many
venues are created to suit the type of music that will be performed there, but there are few venues
that are able to adjust to suit several styles, whether it be different music genres or speaking
events. The Hollywood Bowl in L.A. is one of the few examples; it employs moveable panels of
loudspeakers that can be configured to direct sound to the listener, regardless of their seat in the
venue but the Hollywood Bowl is an outdoor venue, and wed like to find a way to also adapt
this to indoor venues, including existing ones. There have been many technological
developments in recent decades that have led to broadened horizons in the merged field of music
and architecture, and understanding these developments is essential to addressing this issue. We
have explored several sources that will help us to provide an accurate overview of architectural
acoustics as a field and explain how sound works, provide examples of acoustically innovative or
variable spaces, and utilize the information to address the issue of how to make regular indoor
venues into variable acoustic spaces.
An Overview of Architectural Acoustics
The origins of architectural acoustic can be traced back to the times of ancient Rome and
Greece; think early theatre designs. The floors were made out stone, which were sound-reflecting
surfaces that allowed actors voices to carry, and the stage was elevated so that it reaches over the
entire audience, as opposed to the stage being the lowest point in an auditorium. Material, shape,
location - these are the simple elements that create good sound for a particular space, and these
elements have been studied for the purpose of architectural acoustics. It is only in the last one
hundred and sixty years that real scientific research has been conducted and several discoveries

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made (Adelman-Larsen, 2014). Wallace Sabine, the man behind the world-renowned
architectural acoustics of Bostons Symphony Hall, carried out the first scientific methods in
relation to the field. He determined there was a relationship between the size of a space, the
amount of absorption surface, and quality of acoustics and quantitatively applied them to a
mathematic formula. Sabines formula aims to calculate the reverberation time, or the time it
takes for the sound to decay a certain amount (normally 60 decibels in Sabines work).
According to Sabine, the ideal reverberation time for a concert hall where music was performed
was 2 to 2.25 seconds (Thompson, 2002). For speaking events in lecture halls, it was 1 second
any longer, and the audience would start to hear more than one word at a time, making it difficult
to follow along. But as is the case with any field, there is still much to learn about architectural
acoustics and how methods can be improved. The challenge wed like to address is creating a
variable acoustic space, or a space whose acoustic elements can be adapted to suit any type of
sound, whether it be different styles of music or speech. Since reverberation times rely on the
elements of the space itself, we must rely on developing technology and sound systems to
understand how this challenge can be approached.
Examples and Innovations in Architectural Acoustics
Hollywood Bowl
This is the largest Amphitheatre in United States. The acoustic consultant that
spearheaded the construction of Hollywood Bowl is known as Hodgetts and it took him a period
of six years to see that the changes were put in place. These changes included a new arch
conception, a digital system for sound reinforcement, and the stage was expanded. The arches
consist of stepping arches behind which there is a backstage (Vorlander and Schroder, 2016). The

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exterior shell has three towers standing on it and the towers offer support to the suspending
speakers. These features not only improve the quality of the sound projected, but they also ensure
that the hall has a much larger space that increases the number of audiences that can be hosted in
the room.
Sydney Opera House
The hall was built to host multi events and it is located in Sydney. The building has been
there for the last forty years. The hall hosts four major resident companies in Sydney and is
known for drama and other artistic performances. However, the hall has problems with its
acoustic features to an extent that it has been ranked last in a research that aimed to find out the
best classical music halls. The problems have been linked to the availability of a limited space
for the orchestra. In addition, the setting of the stage is such that different sets cannot be hosted
on the stage since moving them in and out is considered a challenge (Kimmelman, 2015).
Furthermore, audiences present in the hall have a very poor view of what is taking place on the
stage since the seats have a very poor arrangement. The quality of sound produced in this hall is
poor, and it serves as an example of poor architectural acoustics that could benefit from a method
that improves the acoustics without affecting the integrity of the building, as Sydney Opera
House is an internation landmark.
Modern systems
Over time, it is believed that in acoustics the focus was to absorb surfaces so that
loudness would be controlled. It should be noted that acoustic is characterized by reflection,
diffusion, and absorption. Therefore, a good architectural acoustic design should be able to
combine the three features together. The modern systems aim at developing architectural shapes

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that can be made with any readily available materials such as glass, metal and wood. BEM
optimization is also required in order to provide surfaces that have the ability to provide
architectural surfaces (DAntonio, 2016). The method of the boundary element and the
multidimensional analysis are used for shape optimization. One of the modern systems being
used by the architects includes the architect desktop. The desktop offers a number of options to
the user, such as flexible panels. These enable the free position of the tools used during
construction.
Virtual reality for Architectural Acoustics
Virtual reality refers to a number of systems that are used in architecture for the purposes
of production of audio applications that are in return used in acoustic rooms. There must be the
presence of the best simulation in addition to the processing tools that are made available in the
room. There are a number of factors that are considered before the determination of whether
room is suitable or the virtual reality systems. One of the factors is the virtual environment and
the degree of realism that is considered achievable (Long, 2006). Applications of these systems
that are designed to help in the production of quality sounds are usually used in aircrafts,
audiology, archeological acoustics, and the room acoustics. It is important to note the systems
can only operate in an environment that is considered computer generated. The environment
should also be characterized with senses, such as seeing, touching, hearing and feeling (Escher et
al, 1999). Detailed source of sound and the means through which the sound is being transmitted
is required.

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Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Loudspeaker

The Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Loudspeaker is a recent innovation in technology that was
introduced less than a decade ago and has been becoming more and more popular in recent years.
It is meant to be a linear array speaker that helps to mitigate conflicts between architecture and
acoustics (Heinz, 2006). It consists of two key innovations that are essential to creating an
acoustically variable space. The first is a multichannel digital amplifier that allows the software
to define where the acoustic origin is and how the array is aimed. The second is the transducer,
which helps to control frequency response. The Iconyx allows the user to strike a balance
between frequency so that consonants can be heard by listeners to make speech intelligible, and
music can be enjoyed because fundamentals and overtones can be heard clearly. It is also
visually unobtrusive which means it can be installed in any venue without much change to the
structural integrity of a venue. A recent example of the Iconyx transforming a bad acoustic space
into a variably acoustic space is the Old St. Louis Cathedral. Two columns of the steerable
column arrays were installed, and deliver a pattern that solves their initial problems. Where the
natural reverberation used to make the organ and choir difficult to understand, the Iconyx is able
to deliver the sound without unwanted reflections.
Conclusion
In many venues big and small, architectural acoustics was never a main focus when
designing the original spaces. It is still relatively new and developing field, but certain
technological developments, like virtual reality and innovations in speaker systems, have made it
possible to apply the principles of the field to older venues that were not originally designed to
be a perfect acoustic space. In places like the Hollywood Bowl and St. Louis Cathedral, linear

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array speaker systems and moveable speaker panels were effectively utilized to create a space
whether the acoustics can be manipulated regardless of the size of the space or the sound
absorption materials that constitute a space. Many venues now, however costly, have the option
to use a combination of new technology to transform the venue into a variably acoustic space.

Reflective Note
In this proposal, we aimed to address a problem we thought relevant to both our disciplines. The
most obvious intersection of our disciplines, music and architecture, was the field of architectural
acoustics. While finding information for the origins of the field was easy, finding recent
developments and examples was harder than anticipated. We sought to address the issue of
making existing venues into variably acoustic spaces, which could only be achieved through
examining recently technology. It wasnt until later that we realized it would be hard to integrate
our research, because after researching we found that our issue has essentially already been
solved with the invention of certain speaker systems, but it is extremely costly and not yet easily
accessible.

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References
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Barron, M. (1993). Auditorium acoustics and architectural design. London: E & FN Spon.
D'Antonio, P., Dr. (2016). Innovative Integration of Acoustic Treatment into Modern
Architecture. Acoustiblok, Inc.
Escher, M., Lee, W. S., Sannier, G., & Magnenat-Thalmann, N. (1999). MPEG-4 compatible
faces from orthogonal photos. In Computer Animation, 1999. Proceedings (pp. 186-194).
IEEE.
Heinz, R. (2006). Bringing Acoustics and Architecture into Harmony -- Renkus-Heinz Iconyx
Loudspeaker.
Kimmelman, M. (2015). Dear Architects: Sound Matters.
Long, M. (2006). Architectural acoustics. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press.
Sabine, P. E. (1932). Acoustics and architecture. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Soffel, A. (1937). Sound reinforcing system for Hollywood Bowl. Electrical Engineering, 56(4),
412-413.
Vorlander, M., & Schroder, D. (2016). Virtual Reality for Architectural Acoustics. Acoustiblok,
Inc.

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Taylor, L., & Claringbold, D. (2016). Acoustics of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. N.d.
Thompson, E. A. (2002). The soundscape of modernity: Architectural acoustics and the culture
of listening in America, 1900-1933. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.