In 2013 at ISRA conference in Toronto, I presented work on parametric design done with Zaha Hadid Architects in Hong Kong for the Changsha Mexihu Opera House. And some acousticians in the audience asked me why I was giving so much power away to the architect! I was shocked by this question (and didn’t have a great response on the spot). I never thought like that about architects and have always wanted to invite them into the acoustic design (and still do). The more engaged we are with one another, the better off the acoustic and architectural outcome for the project. Sadly, not everyone things like that.
There is more to acoustic design than “trust me”. Just like there is more to architectural design than “I am your client, do what I say”. Collaboration does not simply mean that the architect and/or interior designer need to listen to us and do what we say. Collaboration is a two way effort, it is not owed nor to be wrestled. And it requires efforts and good communication.
Yet, many acousticians do struggle with translating complex concepts into tangible and self-explanatory pieces. We know humans do better with visual cues so why are we sticking to numbers, ratios and logarithmic scales when we talk to designers and decision makers?
Probably because it is easier. We all wrote a too long report at least once and were all surprised that no one read it. Realizing that, I started in 2008 working directly in the visual environment that architects use. I started doing my ray-tracing in Rhinoceros 3D software where I could modify a 3D geometry, optimize it, check I was actually not going off-track architecturally and send back the modified model to the architect. And guess what, it worked and I was getting far more information across and more efficient collaboration.
15 years down the track, things have evolve and renderers have improved. Acousticians have no more excuses for not making the effort. It is right there at our finger tips:
More on this can be read here:
https://acousticsrd.com/2022/10/16/new-paper-ica2022-machine-learning-experimentation-for-performing-arts/
Acoustic Research & Design Ltd 
One Reply to “”