The shape of the acoustic

Acoustic in architecture is an important element that has to be taken in account at the time to design. Harmony in a space is well done when all the elements are well arranged and generate a unique atmosphere, visually and audibly. Sound has a particular effect on people, since it’s a sensation that impacts users more violently. Silence can create spaces for study, meditation and rest. Noise can generate stress and uncomfortableness. To produce a balance inside and outside of a building is fundamental to define the character of the work.

In Kahn’s monumental works, spaces are suspended between huge walls and elevated ceilings, where sound is reflected from the interior and is distributed along the space. But the dimensions of the spaces often expand the sounds that can be produced.

Kahn focused on acoustic details and said: “… I believe in the fusion of senses. To listen to a sound is to see its space. Space has tonality, and I imagine myself creating a noble space, jumping, or below a dome, giving it a character of altering sound with space tones, slim and tall, with silver, light or darkness”.

Theater Fort Wayve

Louis Kahn, between 1966 and 1973 projected and built the dramatic art theater in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This building is made of an interior concrete shell, which subordinates to the acoustic requirements of the space, and of an exterior shell of brick and concrete that, however, obeys in its formulation to the architect’s own likings. This shape, the distribution of seats improves the way in which the public persive the frequency. The form creates a harmonic sounds wrapped space, and therefore creates a pleasant atmosphere to enjoy the theater.

In the Kimbell Art Museum, Kahn also designed an auditorium where waves are spread through the vault and that answers the room’s long, stretched distribution. The vault allows a reflection of sound and propagation of the frequency. In the tour of the museum, besides the vaults reflect light, also they scatter the speed of sound.

Kimbell Art Museum

Kahn accomplishes the harmony of silence below huge, monolithic constructions, controlling reverberation or the speed of sound time, through using sound absorbing materials, acoustic reflectors and the shape in designing the structure..