Coupled VOLUME Concert Halls

In the execution of a coupled volume concert hall, a dynamic and kinetic architecture defines a space’s acoustics. Wrapping a concert hall audience chamber with another room, or coupled volume, and connecting the two with adjustable apertures, creates the opportunity for a double
sloped sound decay. The acoustic interaction between the primary and secondary volumes offers a level of variability and control to the sound field that is not possible in traditional, single volume halls.

Compendium 

The coupled volume concert hall and its signature sound decay—the double sloped acoustic—
offer a tantalizing promise to designers. By attaching a reverberant coupled volume of space to a
room for music making and listening, acousticians and architects hope to create an impulse
response that rapidly decays at first, but later decays slower as sound that had been “trapped” in
the coupled volume “leaks” out.

Aperture size

Statistical and geometric relative analyses suggest a highly sensitive relationship between the aperture size exposing the coupled-volume and the double-sloped condition

Materiality

A coupled volume’s materiality is established as variable. Both statistical and geometric relative analyses suggest a highly sensitive relationship between the coupled volume reverberation time and the double-sloped impulse response.