SINGING B R I C K S Introduction The conceptual idea is based upon a strong sense of materiality, and a way to vary a simple yet timeless building element to form a great range of possibilities; both architecturally as well as acoustically. Bricks, with set dimensions and strict shape, are used in different ways to form a variety of walls that serve several acoustical purposes and at the same time are architecturally appealing. The walls have two levels of function, on different scales. On a larger scale, the walls’ curvature shape the building itself, and the different spaces of the building, both inside and outside. More closely, the bricks are differentiated with spacing and depth to create suitable acoustical environments. The site offers a close relation to nature and the landscape. The building consists of three wings. One connects the guest house to the patron’s home and one meets the visitors by stretching towards the entrance of the lot. The third wing holds the chamber music performance salon and is directed towards the lake and surrounding landscape.
Br ic k wa l l v a riations
Site plan 1:2000
Plan 0 1:400
Bricks are pushed out to create convex forms and highly scattering walls.
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Salon NC-20
Green room NC-30
Guest house NC-35
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Bricks are lengthwise spaced and with air cavities the wall becomes absorptive.
D C Lobby NC-40
WC
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Guest house entrance Outdoor pavilion 50dBA 1300m2
Bricks are angled to create scattering walls but the wall remains straight.
Wardrobe
Tickets
Entrance
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Longitudinal section A-A 1:200
Plan -1 1:400
Piano storage
Instrument storage & rep. Make-up
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Aux./ mech. HVAC
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Emergency generator
OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE PAVILION
The outdoor pavilion lies in close contact to the building, embraced by the surrounding brick walls and the space itself has the feel of a modern amphitheatre. It lies naturally in the landscape topography, with a main seating area in front of the stage and elevated terraces in the back and on the sides. Light weight membrane roofs cover the audience. One permanent larger roof over the main seating area and smaller removable roofs at the back. The space becomes transparent towards the nature, offering a nice view over the lake and provides a sense of openness.
CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCE SALON
Side wall section 1:25
Cross section C-C 1:200
Noise control
Tranmission loss 90
dB side wall total roof window side wall total roof window
80 dB 90 70 80 60 70 50
Preparation area
Noise from the road is controlled by using the back walls as screens towards the road. The stage and main seating level is situated at a low point due to the terracing, further reducing noise from the road.
The risk of focusing points, due to the concave shape of some of the walls, are avoided by the fact that the walls themselves are highly scattering. The smaller wall parts have a convex shape to provide nicely distributed reflections to the audience. The larger roof holds a great acoustical purpose in addition to audience coverage.
Longitudinal section B-B 1:200
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Piano storage
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The chamber music performance salon is greatly influenced by the brick back wall and the side walls that push into the room and towards the stage backdrop showing off the Pocantico landscape.
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levels
90dB 100 80 90 70 80 60
maximum possible noise level to reduce, still ensuring NC-20
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total maximum possible noise NC-20 level to reduce, still ensuring NC-20 total
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The heavy, solid construction provide good sound insulation: side walls with a concrete core and brick cladding, a concrete roof and heavy glass on the backdrop. Another important aspect is the use of thick heavy doors to the lobby.
108 mm brickwork (108 / 228 / 54) 400-150 mm reinforced concrete 108 mm brickwork
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dB 100 Sound
Wooden reflectors on stage as well as adjustable over stage reflectors provide early reflections to the audience. The reflectors in the ceiling have a convex shape to diffuse the sound over the audience and onto the scattering brick walls in order to provide a soft even spread of reverberation in the room.
side walls:
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Reverberation time, T-30
Clarity, C-80
Gain, G
Reverberation time, T-30
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Clarity, C-80
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Section D-D 1:25 separating walls: 108 mm brickwork with longitudinal spacing (108 / 228 / 54) 40 mm air cavity 25 mm acoustic absorber 100 mm concrete blocks 50 mm air cavity 100 mm concrete blocks 108 mm brickwork
STC 70
separating slabs: 12 mm wood flooring 60 mm floating concrete slab waterproof membrane 50 mm resilient blanket 60/160 mm ribbed concrete floor 50 mm suspended ceiling with plaster boards.
STC 65
GREEN ROOM
Room settings
GUEST HOUSE
Mingle setting
Music performance setting
The guest rooms are both sleeping quarters and a space for practicing, warming up and rehearsing. The beds can be folded and integrated into the side wall with wardrobes to create more space, and to change the acoustical environment. Just like in the green room, a folded bed make a wall of absorbing felt panels, and the wall parts over the bed are in wood.
Banquet setting
The green room’s multi-purpose character lies in the room’s changeability depending on event. The room setup can be varied (as shown above) and the acoustical properties consequently change.
Noise control The room separating construction (above) ensures sufficient acoustical separation of the guest rooms. The wall constructions are separated, and suspended ceilings and floating floors will prevent airborne and impact sounds to spread into adjacent rooms.
LOBBY The lobby is located in the very center of the building, a large open space with good communications to the salon, green room and guest house.
The stage is foldable and fully integrable into the side wall. It consists of five different parts so that the stage size can be adjusted according to what type of ensemble or number of speakers it will hold.
Stage wall, entire stage in use
A completely folded stage make an entire absorbing wall of felt panels, a suitable environment when there are a lot of people in the room, and you need more space. When the stage is in use the back wall is of wood providing reflection and a somewhat higher reverberation in the room.
The large volume will hold a lot of people, and the reverberation is controlled by the enveloping brick walls with absorbing and diffusive properties.
Absorbing wall, stage folded
The space has few glassed parts and is more influenced by the large brick walls. The absence of transparency in the lobby will strengthen the effect of meeting the environment when entering the salon.
Noise control The green room is situated in a way so that no other acoustically sensitive rooms are adjacent to it. Musicians can rehearse or there could be a separate performance in the green room and neither the guest house nor the salon would be affected. The solid, heavy construction still provide high transmission loss.
The brick side wall has a highly scattering effect, and the opposing glassed wall is curved so that flutter echoes are effectively avoided.
Reverberation time, T-30
Definition, D-50
2
Layering of absorbing walls. 40% brick spacing, air cavity 100 mm, foam absorber, concrete. Absorption coefficient: 45%
Diffusive walls with angled bricks. 45 degree angles. Assumed scattering: 50%
HVAC strategy
Gain, G
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The air supply in the salon is strategically placed under the seating to allow slow flow, hence low noise production yet sufficient ventilation. The exhaust is hidden above the ceiling reflectors. During performances the flow is lowered to further reduce the noise level, and during pauses the room can be ventilated at high flow.
The HVAC room has a central location in the building to minimize the distance to each space that require ventilation. The room is separated from all acoustically sensitive spaces in the building.
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By using different acoustical properties on all the walls in the guest rooms, flutter echoes are avoided. As mentioned, one of the side walls can be partly or fully absorbing. The opposite wall is a brick wall with spacing and an air cavity to make it absorbent. The back wall in the room is also a brick wall but with angled bricks to give a scattering character.
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HVAC
The main ventilation piping in the guest house is contained in the hallway with separate supply and exhaust to each guest room.