Akustikon - Consulting company specialising in acoustics, vibration and AV engineering

Opera houses Concert halls Theatres Culture houses Educational facilities Industrial plants, vibration and structure-borne sound

		Concert Halls Below are some of our many concert halls.
		Gävle Concert Hall (Gävle Konserthus) The new concert hall of Gävle opened in January 1998. Strömbadet, a former swimming pool, was converted into a new music centre. The hall, home of Gävle Symphony Orchestra (Gävle Symfoniorkester), contains an 820-seats auditorium. The auditorium has a fairly high ceiling and a generous, warm, round acoustic quality. Its acoustics was praised when the hall was inaugurated, and the auditorium has proved highly popular with orchestras, choirs and soloists alike. Read more about the hall at the website of Gävle Concert Hall.
		The Norrköping Concert and Congress Hall (Norrköpings Konsert- och Kongresshus) Complete acoustical planning, including sound systems. The house contains a concert hall (de Geer Hall) with 1,250 seats with variable reverberation (1.7 - 2.2 seconds), by means of textiles in the centre of the hall and along upper part of walls. The hall, home of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (Norrköpings Symfoniorkester), largely resembles the Gothenburg Opera, with three tiers of balconies (the same architect). It has a flexible stage ceiling and orchestra pit, for multi-purpose use. Additionally, the house has a small auditorium (the Hemeryck Room) with 200 seats, ensemble rooms and practise rooms, designed with the help of a test room. Read more about the concert hall and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.
		Växjö Concert Hall (Växjö Konserthus) The main building contains the Christina Nilsson Hall, a concert and congress hall with 800 seats, technical areas, a foyer, a conference room and boxes. The auditorium has side balconies (single level) and cat walks along the upper sides, an orchestra pit for 45 musicians and variable acoustics. The ceiling is flexible with diffusing reflectors. The new main building was joined to a nearby former swimming pool, where a smaller hall (the Karl Birger Blomdahl Hall) and other conference rooms were built. Akustikon was in charge of the acoustical and electroacoustical planning. We used ray calculation and thorough follow-up testing.	"Then, to my great delight, I discovered what wonderful acoustics this auditorium has." Birgit Nilsson, after singing in Växjö Concert Hall "...extremely pleasant room acoustics." Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, 4 Sept.1991
		Roman Hall (Romanhallen), Kalmar, Sweden Conversion of a mill and silo into a concert hall. Complete planning. Auditorium with 850 seats and an orchestra pit for approximately 40 musicians. Diffusing ceiling reflectors, which can be raised and lowered above the stage. Tilted, angled side reflectors. Rolling floor screens forming an orchestra shell on the stage. Variable acoustics, by means of rolling curtains along the walls.	"The Roman Hall is perfect for opera" Åke Tylöskog, in Barometern newspaper. "...generous, extremely clear sound picture." Göteborgsposten newspaper,3 Oct. 1990
		Tonhallen, Sundsvall, Sweden Acoustical design of auditorium with up to 900 seats. Hexagonal floor plan, one balcony. Flexible stage space with mobile reflectors. Orchestra pit for up to 70 musicians. Variable reverberation with rolling curtains along the upper part of the walls.	"Excellent acoustics" Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, 5 Oct. 1993
		The Concert Hall in Västerås - the flexible hall This hall opened in September 2002 and has been very much appreciated by the listeners in the auditorium as well as the musicians on the stage. Recording engineers also praise it for the acoustics. It was constructed and built in a short time with very small expenses, yet it turned out to become one of the best concert halls in Scandinavia. There are 917 seats and the size of the stage is 200 m2. The hall is one of few music halls in the world that really works for all different kinds of music, partly because of the acoustical flexibility, including stage reflectors that are adjustable in height and 220 doors into diffusing chambers. The doors can be rotated and will work as diffusing elements and behind them curtains can be withdrawn to increase the damping effect. The building also holds a small hall for chamber music, jazz etc. Alos this hall has become a success thanks to its acoustics.
		Auditorium/concert hall, Karlstad University Library Karlstad University wanted a hall that was suitable for both speech and music, and this was realised as a combination of a concert hall and an auditorium, with room for 600 people. Hence, the reverberation time is rather long, approximately 1,9 seconds, which can be reduced to 1,4 seconds using acoustical curtains, situated along the upper parts of the walls. This stage has already become the main stage for the performances of Värmland Classic Festival, and the Värmlands Sinfonietta gives a great deal of its concerts here.
		Continuous success for the Concert House in Vara This hall opened in September 2003. The original brief was assembly- and lecture hall for the adjacent high school, with possibilities for music, dance and theatre performance, and seating capacity approx. 500 people. During the design process the emphasis on symphonic music increased. Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Gothenburg Opera became involved and some changes were made in the planning e.g. increased stage area. Both the Symphony orchestra and Opera perform in the hall on regular basis and other orchestras have visited. Despite the small size of the hall the acoustics is excellent even for full size orchestras. Using retractable curtains the acoustics can be successfully adapted to other uses such as conferences, drama, jazz- and pop music. This very versatile hall has proven to be a substantial cultural lift for the community of Vara and its surroundings.

	Akustikon, a team at Norconsult AB Theres Svenssons gata 11, Box 8774,402 76 Gothenburg, Sweden Tel +46 (0)31-700 10 90, Fax +46 (0)31-50 70 15 info@akustikon.se ©2009 Akustikon/Norconsult AB