The Technology module is related to the Design Studio, therefore in my report I focused on Acoustics and designing a bandstand for New Wortley that was one of my initial ideas.
This is the first time I will be designing a space for music and I had few different approaches in order to achieve the optimal geometry of the bandstand. Firstly, I did a research on Acoustics and to understand the behavior of sound, I need to understand the basic physics of sound first. Therefore, I began by defining the main characteristics of the sound wave and the different phenomena that occur.
Secondly, I examined 3 case studies that gave me initial overview of the required acoustical considerations when designing a performance stage.
Thirdly, I got in touch with Acoustics consultants that provided me with valuable advices and navigated me into the right direction.
Fourthly, the acoustics testing was really important part of the report as this was the main method to examine the geometries and choose the optimal one for the purpose.
Basically this report is process for the finding of the optimal shape for a bandstand.
SITE SELECTION
One of the main acoustical considerations for outdoor stage includes environmental noise levels at the site. It is really important to select a quiet site for the proposed bandstand, so that the music performance is not going to be disturbed from the environmental noise. Therefore, noise measurements have been taken in order to determine the most suitable site.
For the noise measurements I used Sound-level meter. This is handheld electronic device that take acoustic measurements.
Within the area I have identified 4 possible sites for the bandstand to be located.
Noise Measurement Results:
After analyzing the data, I determined that the noise levels of site number 4 are lower than the others.
ACOUSTIC TESTING
1) Physical models
Currently I do not have access to laboratories where I can do acoustic testing of physical models, however, I decided to improvise and do the testing at home. I used a Sound level meter and Bluetooth Portable Speaker.
Three models of proposed geometry for the bandstand were created for the testing. I have started with simple shape and then continued with doing alterations to the initial shape while keeping the same floor area and height.
Results:
The results from the Sound level meter show that Model C has the highest value. This means that the geometry of the model propagate the sound better than the others and this leads to higher values of Sound Level and Loudness which are really important for outdoor performances. The chosen geometry for further testing and improvements will be model C.
2) Acoustic simulations
As an additional method of testing the geometries, I will be using Rhino and Grasshopper to conduct acoustic studies. This is the first time I am using these software so I spent a lot of time learning how to use it. It was quite beneficial experience because it adds vital acoustic analysis and completeness to the report. All of the acoustic testing conducted for this project will be done through the use of an acoustic simulation plug-in called Pachyderm made for Rhino and Grasshopper.
Results:
The results from the acoustic simulations confirm that model C has better geometrically optimised design. The values of the Clarity, Loudness and SPL`s of this model are higher than the other too. This means that model C has the optimal shape for sound reflection. Among those 3 shapes, model C was chosen according to the value of parameters.
Improved versions of model C:
FINAL PROPOSAL
Structural Design
In recent years, the necessity of using renewable and sustainable resources in the building sector has become obvious, and interest in timber as a building material has revived. New timber-derived products – such as massif block panels – are emerging and the use of such products has largely increased over the past years. Therefore, my proposal will be a compact bandstand made entirely out of wood panels. The double-layered timber folded plate structure of the pavilion is implementation of a novel type of load-bearing structure.
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