A dedicated music lover and amateur composer, the client contacted Keith Yates to furnish an acoustical and audio/video design for a residential hall suitable for live music and its enjoyment by an audience of up to 150. The result is an 1800 sq. ft. irregular enclosure soaring nearly forty feet at its apex. It accommodates up to 35 musicians on Stage, an audience of up to 120 on the Main Floor, and another 30 in the Balcony. Acoustical treatment is concealed behind fabric set into cherry wood panel framing, and extends from floor level to a maximum height of 30 feet.

Given the variety of musical genres performed in the hall—from intimate piano recitals to chamber music to choral concerts—the design team responded with a plan to make the hall quickly and easily configurable by the client and/or musicians. Numerous custom wall assemblies are rotatable to expose different acoustical surfaces—absorptive, reflective and diffusive—to allow the hall to be tuned for the type of live music to be performed, or for studio-grade digital recording or CD playback via a high-end audio system.

The project may be the most acoustically "configurable" residential concert space in the US. The purpose-built facility incorporated ambitious measures to reduce noise infiltration from the mechanical and electrical systems, as well as from through the walls from adjoining living spaces.

Designed primaily for chamber music and intimate recitals, this Private Concert Hall (above) includes provisions for a cherished Grotrian concert-grand piano which is rolled into a separate, temperature- and humidity-controlled room behind the stage when not in use. Six rotatable cherry wood panels (above left) allow the room to be acoustically tuned to the intended use. The reflective and diffusive sides (shown) are generally exposed for live performances and recording sessions, while the fabric-over-absorber side (not shown) is designed to reduce room reverberation during playback of digital master tapes and CDs on the audio system. Engineering by Randy Sparks.

Performance-Based Room Design (sm)

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