Sunday, May 3, 2009

Material, Acoustical, Structural Discussion

Materials...I suppose the seat is important since there are so many of them....
Seat Frame: Steel
Chair Arms: Wood/Upholstered
Chair Backs: Wood/Upholstered
Chair Seats: Wood/Upholstered
(Apparently upholstered seats go a long way acoustically)

Typical Flooring (Audience): Carpet, joy.
Typical Flooring (Stage): This one is tricky, the stage is both inside and out. Perhaps it could be changed based on the type of performance. Durable wood surfaces, potentially weather proof.

Walls, Ceiling, and other Acoustical surfaces: Combination of fixed acoustical panels and the hyposurface for adjustability during performances. I don't know how it would work but if the hyposurfaces could respond to sound in an appropriate way to improve the acoustics of the "auditorium" it would be pretty amazing (see the video).

The books I've read have recommended that the auditorium's structural envelope be of concrete masonry construction due to the fact that it performs much better with vibration and sound (as opposed to open web steel joists). I think I need to use both since the span and height of the auditorium are fairly ridiculous (75' total height, 200' at its longest span) the upper portion of 15'-20' being devoted to structure, catwalks, mechanical, electrical, lighting, etc).
Its still not as crazy as the first one I designed as a 2nd year, I like to think I've come a long way since then.

Unfortunately I'm not quite sure what to say here. I'm no architect or engineer. I'd like to be both some day. I find that someone always asks the question or says something along the lines of "I'm not sure if you can do that." Really? I didn't know you were a professional engineer [insert name of guilty party, usually a student or professor trying to give you a hard time]. I'm tired of people telling me the buildings I design are impossible to build. Some day...some day....

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