(HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE)
ORIGIN OF ACOUSTICS
ARISTOTLE =correctly suggested that
a sound wave propagates in air through motion of the air.
(4TH century B.C.)
GREEK PHILOSOPHER PYTHAGORAS = experiments on
the properties of vibrating strings that produce pleasing
musical intervals . (6TH century B.C)
STONEHENGE
It may have been
designed to amplify
sound in very specific
ways.
The study found that
people who spoke or
played music inside the
monument would have
heard clear reverberations
against the massive
standing stones.
GREEK AND ROMAN THEATER’S
ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS
5TH CENTURY BC, Epidaurus, Greece
Festivals honoring Dionysus, God of Wine
The Greatest Theatre of Epidaurus.
14, 000 seat theater
Architect: Polykleitos The Younger
Perfect Acoustics
By shaping the steeply banked seating
area in a semi-circle , naturally resulted in
reason-ably good hearing.
EARLY THEORIES
• the wind carried sound to
the viewers
• It is believed the
propagation of sound to the
audience was aided by the
megaphone effect of the
masks worn by the actors
ARISTUXENUS
• Examined the study of musical sounds further by
going beyond the source and propagation of sound
to consider issues of perception.
VITRUVIUS
• De Architectura (Book V) “Sounding vessels in the
theatre”
• Vitruvius applied Pythagorean principles of harmonic
ratios in the design of theatres.
• Determined the correct mechanism for the transmission
of soundwaves.
• Application of Wave theory to architectural
acoustics.
• RESONANTIA – a sound being bounced back and forth
repeatedly at a specific spitch.
“Sounding vessels in the theatre ”
the form or size of the the way to place them in the
acoustics vases:
cavities:
“In accordance with the “Then, having constructed niches
foregoing investigations in between the seats of the
on mathematical theatre, let the vessels be
principles, let bronze arranged in them, in accordance
vessels be made, with musical laws, in such a way
proportionate to the size that they nowhere touch the wall,
of the theatre, and let but have a clear space all round
them be so fashioned them and room over their tops.
that, when touched, they They should be set upside down,
and be supported on the side
may produce with one
facing the stage by wedges not
another the notes of the
less than half a foot high.
fourth, the fifth, and so on
Opposite each niche, apertures
1. 2.
• Dots represents
the sound.
• The change in
color means its
weakening the
more it bounces.
3.
ARCHITECTURAL
ACOUSTICS
DESIGNAPPLICATION
GREEK THEATERS:
SEMI-CIRCULAR PLAN
FORM.
RAKED SEATING.
STAGE RAISED & OF A
MODEST DIMENSION.
TYPICALLY SET IN A
NATURAL DISHING OF
GROUND PROVIDING A
NATURAL RAKING OF
SEATING & AN
ACOUSTICAL BUFFER.
ROMAN THEATRE
STEEPER RAKING
MORE SOUND REFLECTING
SURFACES BEHIND THE
STAGE.
DESIGNED FOR STAGE PLAYS
AMPHITHEATRE
THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATER
WAS GENERALLY OVAL .
DESIGNED FOR THE GREATER
SPECTACLES AND SHOWS OF
GLADIATORS AND WILD
ANIMALS.
DEVELOPED AS A COMPOUND OF
TWO THEATRES, MAKING A
CONTINUOUS AUDITORIUM
AOUND A CENTRAL AREA.
MEDIEVAL CATHEDRALS
LARGE ROOM VOLUMES.
HIGHLY REFLECTIVE
SURFACES.
LONG REVERBERATION TIMES
(ABOUT EIGHT SECONDS).
EVOLUTION OF FORMS
TOWARD HIGHER
STRUCTURES .
REINFORCED THE REFLECTED
SOUND DOWN FROM THE
VAULTS STRESSING THE TIME
DELAY.
BAROQUE OPERA
HOUSES:
AUDIENCE ARRANGEMENTS
CHANGED FROM EARLY CLASSICAL
SEMI-ELLIPSE TO A U-SHAPE.
THE FRONT OF THE AUDITORIUM
ENCLOSED THE FORESTAGE,
ENABLING ACTORS OR SINGERS TO
USE THE AUDITORIUM CEILING AS
A SOUND REFLECTING SURFACE.
STACKED BALCONIES AND THE AUDIENCE ABSORBED HIGH- AND MID-FREQUENCY SOUND.
WOOD PANELING WAS USED TO
ABSORB LOW-FREQUENCY SOUND.
REVIVAL OF ROMAN THEATRE
FORM
ROCOCO
TOWNHOUSES
ROOMS WERE SPECIFICALLY
DESIGN TO CREATE VARYING
ACOUSTICAL PROPERTIES.
MARBLE ENTRANCE HALL:
RESOUNDED WITH THE RATTLE
OF SIDEARMS AND THE CLATTER
OF HIGH HEELS AS VISITORS
WALKED ACROSS THE STONE
FLOOR.
LARGE DINING HALL:
ACOUSTICALLY ADAPTED FOR
TABLE MUSIC.
ROCOCO
TOWNHOUSES
BOUDOIR:WOMEN’S PRIVATE
SITTING ROOM, DESIGNED
WITH SOUND ABSORBING
SURFACES WHICH LOWERED
REVERBERATION TIME.
SALON: DESIGNED TO IMPRESS
AND ENTERTAIN GUESTS.
DAMASK-PANELED WALLS
WHICH ABSORBED SOUND AND
SHORTENED REVERBERATION
TIME, AND WOODEN DOES
WHICH GAVE THE RIGHT
RESONANCE FOR CHAMBER
MUSIC.
Thank You
