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Major Acoustic Improvements from Arup at Llewellyn Hall Canberra
The Australian National University (ANU)'s Llewellyn Hall has opened just a year after Arup started working on plans for a refurbishment. As the largest concert hall in Canberra (with over 1,400 seats), the hall is home to the School of Music at ANU and a regular venue for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. The Hall has provided a hub for cultural activity in Canberra for many years and plays regular host to national tours of organisations like the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Musica Viva. It has also presented many international performance groups including the Harlem Gospel Choir and the Malaysian Philharmonic.
Motivated by serious damage caused in a major hailstorm, ANU chose to embark on an ambitious £2.9m refurbishment of the Llewellyn Hall in early 2007. A short 12 months later, the Hall is ready for its opening Concert scheduled for Friday 9 May. The fundamental goal underpinning this project was to enhance the musical experience for both musician and patron, building on its acoustic reputation for orchestral music, and also expanding its acoustic repertoire for other performances, particularly more intimate chamber music.
The acoustic changes to the Hall are significant. Arup has sought to preserve the aspects of the Halls' acoustic that worked well, while focusing attention on areas that could benefit from improvement, such as clarity to parts of the stalls and platform areas, greater intimacy and a richer sound. The lengthy reverberation time in the hall - best suited to orchestral music - has been maintained, but Arup has shaped the room to achieve a more even balance across the musical spectrum. This has been achieved in part through the use of timber which, in complementing the original blockwork finish, has also added natural warmth to the aural and visual impact of the hall.
The stalls area has been completely remodelled. Much greater intimacy has been achieved between musician and patron by moving the stalls seating closer to the stage and the seating rake optimised for sound and sightlines.
Narrowed to improve intimacy and lateral sound energy, the new stalls layout boasts contemporary continental style seating. The dramatic change in colour scheme provided by the new seats is complimented by the beautiful (and acoustically functional) timber panelling and detail to the side and rear walls. The result is a happy fusion of acoustic intent and architectural form: acoustic architecture at its finest. Improvements in patron comfort have also been achieved.
New timber acoustic reflectors now gracefully suspend across the platform. Divided into four sections, the reflectors are purpose designed to improve ensemble acoustic conditions across the platform as well as improving sound to the stalls seating. The centre two panels are designed to drop down to a lower position and the rear panel tracks forward, to create a more intimate acoustic shell for smaller chamber music ensembles.
Initial feedback on the new Hall acoustic has been very positive: musicians, staff, long term users of the hall and patrons have reported an "outstanding improvement in the quality of sound." Others have commented on the extended range of musical response. "I have heard instruments and musical detail I have never heard before in this Hall," said a delighted member of ANU staff.
12th May 2008
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