https://www.architecturalrecord.com/rss/2667 en-us Four new community gathering spaces raise the bar on acoustics.

]]> http://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13123 Fri, 01 Dec 2017 08:00:00 -0500 https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13123-continuing-education-acoustics Studio Gang’s Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois comprises two performance spaces that open onto a glass lobby structured by timber trusses. Photo © Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing The main performance space at Writers Theatre includes an acoustic screen made of bricks salvaged from the company’s former home. Photo © Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing The main performance space at Writers Theatre includes an acoustic screen made of bricks salvaged from the company’s former home. Photo © Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing RDHA’s Idea Exchange (shown) in Cambridge, Ontario, and the Central Libarary in Austin, Texas, by Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch, represent a new generation of library, with spaces that can accommodate a wide range of programming. Image courtesy RDHA RDHA’s Idea Exchange in Cambridge, Ontario, and the Central Library (shown) in Austin, Texas, by Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch, represent a new generation of library, with spaces that can accommodate a wide range of programming. Photo © Casey Dunn Austin’s Central Library includes a six-story atrium with extensive skylights, clerestories optimized for their solar orientations, as well as a generous east-facing curtain wall. Photo © Casey Dunn The form of Patkau Architect’s Temple of LIght, a sanctuary and meeting place for the Yasodhara Ashram, was inspired by the shape of a previous building destroyed by fire, and its spectacular setting in the mountains of southeastern British Columbia. Photo © Daniel Séguin An early scheme for the Temple of Light included wood slats with acoustic backing on the underside of its petals. These interior surfaces were ultimately constructed of painted drywall with compound curves, to help mitigate sound-focusing problems. Image courtesy Patkau Architects A chandelier of melamine-foam baffles absorbs excess acoustical energy. Photo courtesy Patkau Architects