Achieving world-class acoustics
The hall’s ‘shoe-box’ shape, based on the proportions of the classic European concert hall, has been sculpted to provide an intimate aural and visual experience. The interior timber panelling is faceted and shaped to provide reflective ledges and sound diffusion, while the wall and ceiling surfaces surrounding the stage provide early reflections to ensure that musicians can hear themselves and each other clearly.
Computer modelling was used to check the acoustic parameters of the room as the design progressed, and auralisations of the space, using the Arup SoundLab, allowed the designers to listen to the space before it was even built.
The hall has been engineered to make it one of the quietest performance spaces in Australia. In order to reduce structure-borne noise from trams, which pass by as close as 16m from the hall envelope, the hall was designed as a ‘box-in-box’ arrangement, comprising an inner 250mm-thick concrete box floating on isolation spring assemblies. As a result, trams are inaudible within the hall.
High-performance, sound-insulating walls control noise from other spaces within the building and sources of noise within the hall, such as air conditioning, lighting and technical equipment, have been carefully specified, measured and controlled to ensure that low background noise level is maintained.
Objective measurements of the acoustic signature of the hall and subjective listening tests have confirmed that the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall is acoustically exceptional, with extremely good musical clarity, envelopment and intimacy.