This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Architectural Record logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Architectural Record logo
  • NEWS
    • Latest News
    • Interviews
    • Reviews
    • Commentary
    • Editorials
  • PROJECTS
    • Building Types
    • Interior Design
    • Museums & Arts Centers
    • Adaptive Reuse
    • Colleges & Universities
    • Lighting
    • Snapshot
  • HOUSES
    • Record Houses
    • House of the Month
    • Featured Houses
    • Kitchen and Bath
  • PRODUCTS
    • Material World
    • Categories
    • Award Winners
    • Case Studies
    • Partners in Design
    • Trends & Insights
  • EXCLUSIVES
    • Best Architecture Schools
    • Top 300 Firms
    • Theme Issues
    • Record Houses
    • Record Products
    • Good Design Is Good Business
    • Design Vanguard
    • Historical Archive
    • Cocktail Napkin Sketch
    • Videos
  • CALL FOR ENTRIES
    • Record Houses
    • Guess the Architect Contest
    • Submit Your Work
  • CONTINUING ED
    • Architectural Technology
    • Architect Continuing Education
    • Continuing Education Center
    • Digital Academies
  • EVENTS
    • Record on the Road
    • Innovation Conference
    • Women In Architecture
    • Webinars
    • Advertising Excellence Awards
  • MORE
    • Subscribe
    • Customer Service
    • Digital Edition
    • eNewsletter
    • Interactive Spotlight
    • Store
    • Custom Content Marketing
    • Research
    • Sponsor Insights
    • eBooks
  • CONTACT
    • Advertise
Home » Continuing Education: Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
Projects

Continuing Education: Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House

When size matters: A hall reproduces old-world sound in a larger modern setting.

February 19, 2010
Joann Gonchar, FAIA
KEYWORDS Dallas
Reprints
No Comments
Performing Arts Centers: Dallas Arts District Winspear Opera House Wyly Theatre Copenhagen Concert Hall

 

An overarching goal for the design team behind the new Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House in Dallas was to re-create the experience found in some of Europe’s much-loved opera venues. One of the Winspear models was the Classical-style, horseshoe-shaped hall at Munich’s National Theatre (1818). The sought-after acoustical qualities were strength, intelligibility, and warmth, says Bob Essert, director of Sound Space Design, the project’s acoustician. “The objective was to envelope the listener with orchestral sound while maintaining the clarity of the singers’ voices,” he adds.

One important factor for opera is a hall’s size. Since the medium depends on the power of the human voice and of instruments to “excite” the room without amplification, “smaller is better,” says Essert.

However, the Dallas venue is larger than its European predecessors. Munich’s early-19th-century hall, rebuilt substantially according to the original’s plans by Karl von Fischer after a World War II bombing, holds almost the same number of people as the 2,200-seat Winspear. But despite comparable capacity and a similar horseshoe layout, Dallas is about 25 percent bigger due to current codes and patron preferences, says Richard Pilbrow, founder of Theatre Projects, a Winspear design consultant.

To create a sense of visual and acoustical intimacy at Dallas that belies the hall’s size, Foster + Partners and its consultants carefully adjusted the five levels to make the configuration as compact as possible and manipulated finishes and geometry. The perimeter walls and the balcony fronts are fundamental to this strategy: A rough plaster coat covers the concrete block walls, while the balconies include a wavelike relief pattern in glass-fiber-reinforced plaster. These surfaces, together with slightly convex profiles, help evenly disperse sounds, especially those at high frequencies, between 3,000 and 6,000 hertz. Sounds in this range are key for the transmission of consonants, explains Essert.

The team also needed to consider ambient noise, such as the hum of mechanical systems. To minimize such potentially distracting sound, designers located equipment in remote areas of the building, specified attenuation in ducts, and opted for displacement ventilation. Because the system introduces cool air from below the seats at low velocities, it operates more quietly than one that would rely on forced air from above.

The Winspear sits not far from a busy freeway, so noise from the exterior environment was also a concern. While the lobby surrounding the auditorium provides some protection, its glass enclosure includes an 84-foot-wide section that opens to Sammons Park, thereby compromising the space’s ability to act as a buffer. To compensate, the walnut doors on either side of the “sound-and-light lock” between the lobby and the hall were thickened to 3 inches. And to prevent the sound of jets taking off and landing at nearby Love Field from penetrating the auditorium, the penthouse above the stage has three layers of smoke-evacuation hatches, instead of just one or two.

Although the Winspear was conceived primarily for opera, it will also host other types of productions that might depend on amplified music. To allow the “drying up” of the hall for those instances, Theatre Projects devised a retractable banner system that follows the curve of the perimeter walls. When deployed, the curtains shorten the room’s reverberation time without changing its fundamental architecture.

AR Subscribe

Recent Articles by Joann Gonchar, FAIA

Lincoln Center’s Geffen Hall to Get Long-Awaited Revamp

A Closer Look at the Gridshell Roof of Swatch Headquarters by Shigeru Ban

Continuing Education: Mass Timber Construction Swatch Headquarters by Shigeru Ban

Joann-gonchar1

Joann Gonchar, FAIA, LEED AP, is a senior editor at Architectural Record. She joined RECORD in 2006, after working for eight years at its sister publication, Engineering News-Record. Before starting her career as a journalist, Joann worked for several architecture firms and spent three years in Kobe, Japan, with the firm Team Zoo, Atelier Iruka. She earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. She is licensed to practice architecture in New York State.

Related Articles

Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House by Foster + Partners

Related Products

The Iconic House

SNAP January/February 2018 Issue

Related Events

Detailing Continuity in Building Enclosure Systems

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

More Videos

AR Huber Webinar 12/10


 


 

Events

December 10, 2019

New Options for Insulating and Venting Wood-Framed Sloped Roofs

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 IACET CEU

May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations

A comprehensive overview of the control layers of a wood-framed sloped roof assembly. New code provisions will be discussed for high-performance, green and sustainable building practices. The differences between vented and unvented assembly requirements will be defined. In conclusion, a review of the emerging 2018 code provisions will be done as well as a comparison of different methods to providing continuous and integrated air, water, and thermal barrier.

December 12, 2019

Improving Building Delivery with BIM

Credits: 1 AIA LU/Elective; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 IACET CEU
May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations

BIM brings countless advantages to the construction team, but the biggest benefit lies with the owner. For architects continuing to develop and enhance delivery methods, BIM is the solution. In this webinar with Rob Glisson, AIA, principal at ROJO Architecture, see how BIM can help you reduce risk, accelerate schedules, establish more accurate budgets, decrease costs, and better serve your clients.

View All Submit An Event

Products

ENR Square Foot Costbook 2020

ENR Square Foot Costbook 2020

See More Products

Tweets by @ArchRecord

Architectural Record

AR December 2019 Cover

2019 December

In the December 2019 issue, Architectural Record reveals the winners of the annual Record Products contest.

View More Subscribe
  • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Survey And Sample
    • Editorial Calendar
  • Call for Entries
  • Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Renew
    • Create Account
    • Change Address
    • Pay My Bill
    • Free eNewsletters
    • Customer Care
  • Advertise
    • Architectural Record
    • Advertising Awards
  • Industry Jobs

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing