Menuhin Memorial Hall, Yehudi Menuhin School, Surrey, UK  

the challenge

The music school founded by Yehudi Menuhin is building a new 300 seat concert hall in his memory. Its students of string and piano range in age from 8 to 19. For years they had performed in a neighbour’s barn. SSD was selected in 2002 to be acoustician for the design of the new hall, and after a relatively rapid design and construction process, the building was completed in late 2005 and was opened by the Duke of Gloucester and Mstislav Rostropovich on 7 January 2006.

Lord Menuhin always valued the emotional connection between performers and audience, and our challenge is to design a hall that supports that connection. We were asked to attain the best possible acoustics for strings and piano. The new hall will control the loudness of a large 42 piece chamber orchestra, yet support the strength of a 9 year old violin soloist.

the building

The auditorium is lofty to float the sound, with a pitched roof that will enhance acoustical envelopment. A small balcony wraps around the hall to bring the audience close to the performers and to distribute sound reflections. Wood and plaster are used throughout, of sufficient thickness to develop warmth of tone tailored for strings. Care has been taken to achieve extremely low background noise levels so that the young performers can learn to develop exquisite pianissimo as well as powerful fortissimo. Sound absorbing acoustic curtains can be extended to cover the walls for amplified and speech events. With SSD leading the roof design requirements for sound isolation, the design team and contractor have agreed on steel framing with precast concrete roof planks to isolate the auditorium from aircraft and traffic noise. This approach has been particularly effective in keeping costs down by allowing the job to move along quickly on site.

the team

Sound Space Design is responsible for all acoustics and sound system design. Architect: Burrell Foley Fischer; Theatre Consultant: Anne Minors Performance Consultants.

the venue

http://www.yehudimenuhinschool.co.uk/