News! 02.2008 | StarTribune.com: Auspicious debut for chamber music series at MacPhail

Acoustic Dimensions (AD) commenced this project with an interactive process of working with MacPhail to understand their prioritized program goals with respect to acoustics. To facilitate this process, AD went with project team members to listen to other performance and instructional spaces. AD then translated MacPhail’s response to the acoustical attributes of these other spaces into quantitative acoustical Design Criteria.

The Instructional Space, or more aptly put, the musician’s learning space, required special construction to produce a high-level of sound isolation from adjacent studios; not only to either side, but also from above and below. The solution AD developed in concept was to develop “room within a room” construction. Double walls between each studio combined with double flooring and double ceiling construction mitigate sound transfer between studios, providing Instructors concurrent use of each studio without disruption from other noise sources or other contiguous studios.

The goal of the MacPhail Center for the Performance Space is flexibility. The Performance Space is used for a wide variety of music types and the room has been configured to provide flexibility while at the same time enhancing the connection between the audience and the performer. There is a recess in the floor and a series of moveable platforms allowing multiple configurations of performances and seating arrangements that provide good sightlines (and sound lines) from performer to audience. Retractable velour curtains were added to allow adjustment of the room’s liveness and reverberation. For example, the curtains can be extended to provide for a more controlled acoustical environment to better suite jazz and other amplified events, such as one might find in a nightclub or cabaret.