Open Air Theatre

The definition of the rows on the

cavea horizontal reflections between
cavea and proscenium. The sound
will in this case bounce back and
forth between the vertical seat rises
and the proscenium wall. These
reflections will arrive at a listener
position with a large delay and
attenuation but will nevertheless
contribute to a long reverberation

 When the cavea of the theatre is modeled as sloped surfaces

the theatre will resemble the shape of an inverse cone. This
shape will tend to direct most of the reflections towards the
open sky and therefore the energy will dissipate quickly
leaving few late reflections.
The diffraction and scattering effect from the empty seats is
not usually considered important in computer simulations of
roofed theatres.
Many strong reflections from the roof and side walls mask the
much lower energy coming from scattering and diffraction.
But in the case of the open-air theatres fewer strong
reflections are present and the gaps between strong
reflections in the impulse response have to be filled in with
scattered energy in order to get a smoother decay curve.
An abrupt decay curve with a few strong reflections makes it
very difficult to estimate any acoustic parameter and can be
misleading .

Design details :
Selection of site is is a critical point. topographical,
meteorological and acoustical properties should be
taken into consideration.
Slope of seating should not be less than 12 degrees,
for better audibility n visibility
Noise level should not exceed 40 decibel.;.

Sound
reflection

speaker

Seating arrangement

Long term acoustic studies conducted in outdoor spaces

have shown that the basic principles of design include:
minimisation of external noise (noise protection),
harmonic development of the functional elements of
the theatrical space within the limits of human vocal
and acoustical scale,
sufficient emergence of directly propagated sound and
its reinforcement through early positive sound
reflections (from the amphitheatre gradient and
natural loudspeaker response of the space),
control of late sound reflections (limitations of the
reverberation time, eliminations of echoes)

 The design of the new open air theatres goes

back to the positive models of similar
monuments that have been preserved in the
contemporary urban plan. In order to
optimise advantages of acoustic design, the
usual cases involving adverse sound
environments require the combined
exploitation of the advantagesof open space
plan and the limitation of the boundaries of
the theatre space based on the model of
Greco-roman theatre.

Historic Overview
Greek Theatre
Open air
Direct sound path
No sound reinforcement
Minimal reverberation

S: p. 785, F.18.17a

overhang
Sound reflecting
surface
Acting arena
Orchestra
area
seating

WHY THE GREEKS COULD HEAR FROM THE BACK

ROW??????

The wonderful acoustics for which

the ancient Greek theatre of
Epidaurus is renowned may come
from exploiting complex acoustic
physics, new research shows.
Its acoustics are extraordinary: a
performer standing on the open-air
stage can be heard in the back rows
almost 60 metres away. Architects
and archaeologists have long
speculated about what makes the
sound transmit so well.

 The key is the arrangement of the stepped

rows of seats.
Most of the noise produced in and around
the theatre was probably low-frequency
noise, the rustling trees and murmuring
theatre-goers, for instance. So filtering out
the low frequencies improves the audibility
of the performers' voices, which are rich in
higher frequencies, at the expense of the
noise. The cut-off frequency is right where
you would want it if you wanted to remove
noise coming from sources that were there
in ancient times.

Architects Role

Source
slight

Path

major design
influence

Receiver
primarily interest

Acoustical Design
Relationships
Site
Location
Orientation
Planning
Internal Layout

Site
Factory:
Close to RR/Hwy
Seismic

Location
Take advantage of distance/barriers

Distance

Location
Take advantage of distance/barriers

Natural or Man-made Berm

Location
Take advantage of distance/barriers

Building

Orientation
Orient Building for Acoustical
Advantage

Parking Lot

Office

Note: Sound is 3-dimensional,

check overhead for
flight paths

Factory

Sound
Mechanical vibration, physical wave or
series of pressure vibrations in an
elastic medium
Described in Hertz (cycles per second)
Range of hearing: 20-20,000 hz

 An efficiently designed orchestral shell is mandatory, for

uniform distribution of average sound level and the shell
enables on stage audibility of a performer .

Sound amplification system should be provided for an

audience over 600.

Sound Intensity

Sound power distributed over

an area
I=P/A
I: sound (power) intensity,
W/cm2
P: acoustic power, watts
A: area (cm2)

Reflector wall.

Reflection Paths of Sound

The sound will in the case of the cavea horizontal
reflections between cavea proscenium bounce back
and forth between the vertical seat rises and the
proscenium wall. These reflections will arrive at a
listener position with a large delay and attenuation but
will nevertheless contribute to a long reverberation
time.
When the cavea of the theatre is modeled as sloped
surfaces the theatre will resemble the shape of an
inverse cone. This shape will tend to direct most of the
reflections towards the open sky and therefore the
energy will dissipate quickly leaving few late reflections

 Many strong reflections from the roof and side

walls mask the much lower energy coming from
scattering and diffraction. But in the case of the
open-air theatres fewer strong reflections are
present and the gaps between strong
reflections in the impulse response have to be
filled in with scattered energy in order to get a
smoother decay curve. An abrupt decay curve
with a few strong reflections makes it very
difficult to estimate any acoustic parameter
and can be misleading.

 The function of an open air theatre must fulfil

the dual goal of maximising the advantages
of acoustic design and minimising the effects
of noise pollution on the environment, an
objective that can be described with the
signal to noise ratio S/N. on the basis of a
practical method for applying this acoustic
evaluation criterion, we shouldevaluate the
spatial distribution of the revelant derivative
values of emergence and spectral density