Contempt or even forget about acoustic design

“There are more than 20 concert halls and theaters under construction in China every year, but none of them rank in the world.” This sentence The words came from Jiang Guorong, director of the Institute of Acoustics of Tongji University, who is one of the leading architects in China. Why do these new theaters, which each have huge investments, innovative and different architectural main bodies, and are regarded as iconic large-scale public cultural facilities in major cities, not rank well in the world? “Acoustic design is very important for theaters. At present, China is the country that builds the most theaters in the world, but none of the acoustic designs of the currently built grand theaters, including the National Center for the Performing Arts, has been completed by international acoustic masters. "Dr. Marshall, the world's top acoustic master, said with emotion. Marshall is the winner of the Sabine Award, the highest award in the international acoustic community, and is the only top international acoustic master active in the design world so far.

The concert hall of Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou University Town has entered the final stage of construction. In the second half of this year, the professional symphony concert hall with 1,060 seats will be "opened to welcome guests". Although the scale is relatively small compared to the world's large symphony halls, the Xinghai Conservatory of Music Concert Hall has first-class sound quality. “This is the concert hall that pays the most attention to acoustic design in China.” Jiang Guorong, who is responsible for the acoustic design, praised, “Due to the owner’s attention, the acoustic design of this hall started from the architectural plan, and the acoustic designer took care of the civil engineering and decoration of the project. We have the 'veto power' from materials to construction."

However, most theaters do not give acoustics such treatment. Guiyang Grand Theater only asked Jiang Guorong to do the acoustic design after it was completed. Jiang Guorong couldn't laugh or cry: "The theater can also make up for it by installing loudspeakers and other electronic sounds. The acoustic effect of the concert hall, which is dominated by natural sound, must be reflected entirely through the architectural design. Once it is built, there is no chance to modify it."< /p>

Owners are more willing to spend money where they can see

Another problem is that the functional positioning is not clear. The project owner wants to perform a symphony, an opera, and a concert. , which makes the acoustic design lose its direction. Due to the pursuit of "big and comprehensive", many theaters and concert halls have actually been reduced to movie theaters, variety shows and conference venues.

Owners are often reluctant to spend money on invisible and intangible costs such as sound effects. They are more willing to spend money on visible aspects such as luxurious chairs. Du Xiaojun, chief representative of Marshall Acoustics Company, said, "In foreign countries, the architectural design fee is usually 4% to 5% of the total project investment, while the acoustic design fee is usually one-tenth of the architectural design fee, while in China the architectural and acoustic design fee "It's usually much lower than abroad." He gave an example for comparison. The acoustic design fee for the Paris Concert Hall under construction reaches more than 10 million yuan, while the acoustic design fee for a domestic concert hall or opera house ranges from several hundred thousand to 10,000 yuan. It ranges from two to three million. Acoustics is so important. However, there is still no acoustic bidding in the strict sense for domestic theater construction.

All owners carry out architectural design bidding, and then the owner or the winning design unit selects the acoustic design unit.