• Nevill Holt Opera 2019 RIBA Judges’ Citation

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    Nevill Holt Opera by Witherford Watson Mann Architects Client Nevill Holt Opera Awards RIBA East Midlands Award 2019, RIBA East Midlands Conservation Award 2019, RIBA East Midlands Building of the Year 2019, RIBA National Award 2019 and Shortlisted for the 2019 Stirling Prize Nevill Holt Opera Building is, at first interaction, a non-building, wholly hidden within the … Continued

  • Behind the Curtain – Xiqu Centre

    Behind the Curtain – Xiqu Centre

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    “Vocal intelligibility is therefore important, and amplification is sometimes used. Revery Architecture engaged London-based Sound Space Vision to design a theatre for both loud percussion and the softer voices of performers. The walls of the theatre are clad with concave wood panels of varying radii to distribute sounds of different frequencies. Parts of the walls are … Continued

  • Nevill Holt – A New Opera House

    Nevill Holt – A New Opera House

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    Anne Minors, Director of Sound Space Vision summarises the project as follows: “The dramatic setting of Nevill Holt and beautiful gardens form the first act of the opera-going experience, the stable building itself closes down and opens up again to nature with a skylight above and doors back and front. Within the auditorium, constraints of … Continued

  • From Basil Brush to Broadway: how Fairfield Halls came back from panto hell

    From Basil Brush to Broadway: how Fairfield Halls came back from panto hell

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    It hosted everyone from the Beatles to Kraftwerk. Then its lustre faded. Now, after a £42m revamp, the arts powerhouse is back – with a double whammy of major shows. Like a stately modernist weathervane, Fairfield Halls has always been an indicator of Croydon’s ambitions. When the concert hall and theatre complex opened in 1962, it was … Continued

  • Croydon Council press release on the opening of Fairfield Halls

    Croydon Council press release on the opening of Fairfield Halls

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    The curtain is set to rise on Fairfield Halls next week following a multi-million pound refurbishment which has restored the iconic Croydon building to its former glory…Spaces at the venue include the world-class Phoenix Concert Hall, Ashcroft Playhouse, Arnhem Foyer and new spaces including The Recreational, Savvy and Talawa studios and the John Whitgift Community … Continued

  • Snell Associates’ Garsington Opera pavilion is eclectic, lightweight, demountable and connects with its landscape setting

    Snell Associates’ Garsington Opera pavilion is eclectic, lightweight, demountable and connects with its landscape setting

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    Acoustician Bob Essert, director of Sound Space Design, concedes that performers are likely to be young with fairly lightweight voices, and that the repertoire will concentrate on smaller operatic works. He also makes no promises to eliminate background noise, which is free to pass through large openings in the pavilion’s fabric: ‘The birds are what … Continued

  • Rebuilding Fairfield Halls: a new venue for London

    Rebuilding Fairfield Halls: a new venue for London

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    In hard hat, protective glasses, hi-vis jacket and boots, Neil Chandler looks more like a quantity surveyor than an artistic director, but this is his daily wear until September, when the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, will finally reopen after three years of refurbishment and expansion – work that aims to place it back at the heart of … Continued

  • Nevill Holt Opera Shortlisted for 2019 Stirling Prize

    Nevill Holt Opera Shortlisted for 2019 Stirling Prize

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    RIBA Judges’ Citation, June 27, 2019 Nevill Holt Opera by Witherford Watson Mann Architects Client Nevill Holt Opera Awards RIBA East Midlands Award 2019, RIBA East Midlands Conservation Award 2019, RIBA East Midlands Building of the Year 2019, RIBA National Award 2019 and Shortlisted for the 2019 Stirling Prize Nevill Holt Opera Building is, at first interaction, … Continued

  • Nevill Holt Opera House reviews, 2019

    Nevill Holt Opera House reviews, 2019

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    Seating is comfortable, sightlines clear and the acoustics are superb, every scintillating note from the relatively large pit fired into the auditorium with pinpoint accuracy. (Bachtrack) It opened last summer to universal acclaim from both the public and the architectural press [and] offers an ideal environment for more intimately scaled works. (Daily Telegraph) A cast of young … Continued

  • Xiqu Centre

    Xiqu Centre

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    Sound Space Vision is proud to have been acoustics and audio systems consultant for the beautiful Xiqu Centre. “We were well-prepared for this particular form of opera house having spent many years visiting Hong Kong arts groups, and building on our enthusiasm of Asian arts while working on the theatre design and acoustics for Singapore’s … Continued

  • High Culture

    High Culture

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    Sound Space Vision’s acoustic advice for the architects was informed by highly sophisticated models created with artists and computer technicians in both live and studio settings using binaural microphones. Read the entire article here!

  • Pitch Perfect

    Pitch Perfect

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    It is the desire of Massey Hall’s parent corporation to preserve the building’s acoustic heritage. And that bold undertaking goes to Bob Essert, cofounder of Sound Space Vision, who is designing the hall’s acoustics in this context. Read the rest of the article here.

  • Storey’s Field Centre and Eddington Nursery / MUMA

    Storey’s Field Centre and Eddington Nursery / MUMA

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    The Hall… is a beautiful balance of sustainability (ventilated naturally using an underground labyrinth), acoustic performance, function and expression of materials. The acoustic attenuation of the space is aided by the height of the hall and the patterned brickwork of the enclosing wall, which acts to break up the reflections of music of speech…Without the … Continued

  • Linbury Theatre: A New Chapter

    Linbury Theatre: A New Chapter

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    Rob Halliday visits the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre, tastefully redesigned and upgraded to be on par with the main house. “Interestingly this reinvention was predicted back when the first Linbury was created, with Anne Minors, the theatre consultant for that project, having proposed the original balconies be ‘made of steel with bolted connections so … Continued

  • Immersive architecture: Battersea Arts Centre by Haworth Tompkins

    Immersive architecture: Battersea Arts Centre by Haworth Tompkins

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    Haworth Tompkins’ restoration of London’s Battersea Arts Centre was nearly complete when a devastating fire destroyed its Grand Hall. But the subsequent rebuild has created a beautiful and beguiling space. Sound Space Design were the acousticians for the Arts Centre. Read the entire Building Study here.

  • What’s changing at Massey Hall?

    What’s changing at Massey Hall?

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    The landmark 124-year-old venue is about to close for a massive $142-million renovation. Here’s what you can expect when it reopens in 2020. When Hart Massey built Massey Hall in 1894 he couldn’t have imagined how his decisions would be scrutinized 124 years later. The venue is showing its age, not to mention the coats … Continued

  • Acoustically Speaking

    Acoustically Speaking

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    Massey Hall – if you’ve played there, you’ve arrived. If you’ve attended a concert there, you’ve felt it reverberate with the echoes of history. What you may be unaware of as a listener, however, is the way Massey’s magical acoustics reverberate – and not in a sublime way – for the mixing professionals who must … Continued