Architect Firm: Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Acoustic Consultants: Müller BBM
Background:
The city of L'Aquila (located in the center of Italy) suffered a harsh earthquake that caused a significant number of deaths and thousands of buildings were damaged and completely ruined the spring of 2009. Among the many buildings damaged was their city's prized auditorium venue. In the fall of 2013 the city of Trento Italy donated a beautifully designed auditorium space created by Renzo Piano to give back and support their fellow city.
Acoustic Qualities:
The form is symbolic of blocks falling down and resting on one another; the rotated cube serves to project the sound coming from the stage out toward the audience. With the sloping walls the audience is in perfect receiving position for the waves that are derived from the sunken end of the cube. Sound is projected in waves by a point sources and continues out until it hits something in its path. Upon hitting an object, the waves--similar to light-- are absorbed, transmitted, reflected, or diffused. Two 2-meter high walls flank the sides of the stage to reflect any sound projected towards the walls and direct it (via reflection) back toward the orchestra so they can effectively hear themselves. Above the audience on the ceiling hang strategically tilted wooden panels that serve to reflect the sound back down to the audience; similarly the interior wooden walls help maintain the sound quality all the way back into the auditorium space because wood absorbs very little. Also the wood used for the walls is lerch from Val di Fiemme in Trento, which is notorious for Cremona's master lute-makers; the building is in a sense performing as a live instrument >>>projecting out into the city where it will be absorbed, transmitted, diffused, and reflected by the neighboring new buildings.
Sources:
http://acousticalsociety.org/about_acoustics/acoustics_of_classrooms
http://www.archdaily.com/334237/renzo-piano-designs-a-flat-pack-auditorium-for-laquila/
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