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Conclusion
The acoustical design of worship spaces can be a far greater challenge than the acoustical design of a concert hall because the program of use is more varied and complex and there are inherent conflicts between the acoustical needs to support music versus speaking, both of which are fundamental requirements in almost all worship spaces. Furthermore, there are many more worship spaces likely to require acoustics design input than concert halls. My training and acoustics design experience in the design of concert halls was much greater than my design of wor- ship spaces until the mid-1990s. In the last few decades, I have had the unique opportunity to lead the acoustics design of many worship spaces and to apply my experience in the design of concert halls to the design of these wor- ship spaces; multiple examples have been discussed in this article. The examples chosen show the very wide breadth of design solutions, each informed by the unique worship style and prioritized program of use of each ministry.
It is hoped that these examples will serve as inspiration to other acoustics design specialists and their clients for more worship spaces of the future to provide better acoustical support of their unique worship style and, in so doing, enhance the experience of both the congrega- tions and the clergy who lead these services.
References
Beranek, L. L. (2016). Concert hall acoustics: Recent findings. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 139, 1548-1556. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4944787.
Bradley, D. T., Ryherd, E. E., and Ronsse, L. M. (Eds.) (2016). Worship Space Acoustics: 3 Decades of Design. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY. Forsyth, M. (1985). Buildings for Music. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Hochgraf, K. A. (2019). The art of concert hall acoustics: Current trends and questions in research and design. Acoustics Today 15(1), 28-36. Kierkegaard, L., and Gulsrud, T. (2011). How do our parameters
and measurement techniques constrain approaches to concert hall
design? Acoustics Today 7(1), 7-13.
Lokki, T., McLeod, L., and Kuusinen, A. (2020). Perception of loud-
ness and envelopment for different orchestral dynamics. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 148, 2137-2145. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0002101.
Roy, K. P., and Siebein, K. (2019). Satisfying hunger, thirst, and acous- tic comfort in restaurants, diners, and bars...Is this an oxymoron?
Acoustics Today 15(2), 11-19.
Wagner, K. (2019) How the vineyard-style concert hall took over the
world (and changed how we hear music). Metropolis, May 28, 2019. Available at https://acousticstoday.org/vineyard-concert-hall.
About the Author
David W. Kahn dkahn@ad-ny.com
Acoustic Distinctions
60 East 42nd Street, Suite 2036 New York, New York 10165, USA
David W. Kahn is a specialist in the field of architectural acoustics, with extensive experience shaping the sonic
environment of worship spaces, performing arts centers, theaters, and many other places. Since 1983, he has helped architects and clients achieve excellence through the integra- tion of exceptional room acoustics, sound isolation, building noise and vibration control, and appropriate AV systems into the overall design of thousands of projects. David is also an active musician (trumpet) whose ear is attuned to worship spaces and performing arts centers as a performer and par- ticipant as well as an acoustician.
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