PARCO DELLA MUSICA

Rome, Italy

I recently won the Burris/Wagnon Travel Award. Where I got to test the reverberation of the greatest concert halls with a single drop. I visited some of the best-sounding concert halls and learned about the science behind their architectural acoustics. I visited Parco Della Musica in Italy, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Philharmonie de Paris in France to study and analyze how these three concert halls have been successful in creating some of the world’s best acoustic spaces. Philharmonie De Paris in France was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and the Marshall Day Acoustics team and with their collaboration, they were able to ensure that the surface of the building perfectly reflects the acoustics of the performances.

Parco Della Musica is an expectational example of how concert halls use acoustic walls to create a well-amplified space. The architects and engineers of this project achieved optimum acoustic conditions by using huge ‘cushions’ that hang from the ceiling, their role being to break up the sound. Concertgebouw is known for its side walls that allow sound to bounce off them immediately allowing the listener to receive the sound of the orchestral from three different sides. One sound that comes right at the listener and the other two from the side, this reflection of sound gives this hall such a unique character.

My method of analyzing the acoustics of the concert halls included photographing and identifying the different materials in the concert hall and factoring them into sound absorption. I also conducted a series of reverberation tests at each concert hall. The reverberation time of a space can be measured by the time it takes for sound to decay by 60 dB. I took a decibel meter tool with me to measure the time it took for the sound of a single pencil drop to decay within each concert hall. By doing so, I tested out the various reverberation times of each concert hall to determine which hall achieves a higher reverberation time and what architectural factors may contribute to it. I also chose these three concert halls to study two of the three designs of concert halls. The three most common shapes for designing a concert hall are shoebox, fanshaped, and vineyard.