ACOUSTICS

(HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE)
ORIGIN OF ACOUSTICS

 ARISTOTLE =correctly suggested that
a sound wave propagates in air through motion of the air.
(4TH century B.C.)
 GREEK PHILOSOPHER PYTHAGORAS = experiments on

the properties of vibrating strings that produce pleasing
musical intervals . (6TH century B.C)
STONEHENGE

 It may have been
designed to amplify
sound in very specific
ways.
 The study found that
people who spoke or
played music inside the
monument would have
heard clear reverberations
against the massive
standing stones.
GREEK AND ROMAN THEATER’S
ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

 5TH CENTURY BC, Epidaurus, Greece
 Festivals honoring Dionysus, God of Wine
 The Greatest Theatre of Epidaurus.
 14, 000 seat theater
 Architect: Polykleitos The Younger
 Perfect Acoustics
 By shaping the steeply banked seating

area in a semi-circle , naturally resulted in
reason-ably good hearing.

EARLY THEORIES
• the wind carried sound to

the viewers
• It is believed the
propagation of sound to the
audience was aided by the
megaphone effect of the
masks worn by the actors
ARISTUXENUS
• Examined the study of musical sounds further by
going beyond the source and propagation of sound
to consider issues of perception.

VITRUVIUS
• De Architectura (Book V) “Sounding vessels in the

theatre”
• Vitruvius applied Pythagorean principles of harmonic

ratios in the design of theatres.
• Determined the correct mechanism for the transmission

of soundwaves.
• Application of Wave theory to architectural
acoustics.
• RESONANTIA – a sound being bounced back and forth

repeatedly at a specific spitch.
“Sounding vessels in the theatre ”
the form or size of the the way to place them in the
acoustics vases:
 cavities:
 “In accordance with the  “Then, having constructed niches

foregoing investigations in between the seats of the
on mathematical theatre, let the vessels be
principles, let bronze arranged in them, in accordance
vessels be made, with musical laws, in such a way
proportionate to the size that they nowhere touch the wall,
of the theatre, and let but have a clear space all round
them be so fashioned them and room over their tops.
that, when touched, they They should be set upside down,
and be supported on the side
may produce with one
facing the stage by wedges not
another the notes of the
less than half a foot high.
fourth, the fifth, and so on
Opposite each niche, apertures

1. 2.
• Dots represents
the sound.
• The change in
color means its
weakening the
more it bounces.
3.

ARCHITECTURAL
ACOUSTICS
DESIGNAPPLICATION
GREEK THEATERS:
 SEMI-CIRCULAR PLAN

FORM.
 RAKED SEATING.
 STAGE RAISED & OF A
MODEST DIMENSION.
 TYPICALLY SET IN A
NATURAL DISHING OF
GROUND PROVIDING A
NATURAL RAKING OF
SEATING & AN
ACOUSTICAL BUFFER.
ROMAN THEATRE

 STEEPER RAKING
 MORE SOUND REFLECTING
SURFACES BEHIND THE
STAGE.
 DESIGNED FOR STAGE PLAYS
AMPHITHEATRE

 THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATER
WAS GENERALLY OVAL .
 DESIGNED FOR THE GREATER

SPECTACLES AND SHOWS OF
GLADIATORS AND WILD
ANIMALS.
 DEVELOPED AS A COMPOUND OF
TWO THEATRES, MAKING A
CONTINUOUS AUDITORIUM
AOUND A CENTRAL AREA.
MEDIEVAL CATHEDRALS
 LARGE ROOM VOLUMES.


 HIGHLY REFLECTIVE
SURFACES.
 LONG REVERBERATION TIMES
(ABOUT EIGHT SECONDS).
 EVOLUTION OF FORMS
TOWARD HIGHER
STRUCTURES .
 REINFORCED THE REFLECTED
SOUND DOWN FROM THE
VAULTS STRESSING THE TIME
DELAY.
BAROQUE OPERA
HOUSES:

 AUDIENCE ARRANGEMENTS
CHANGED FROM EARLY CLASSICAL
SEMI-ELLIPSE TO A U-SHAPE.
 THE FRONT OF THE AUDITORIUM

ENCLOSED THE FORESTAGE,
ENABLING ACTORS OR SINGERS TO
USE THE AUDITORIUM CEILING AS

A SOUND REFLECTING SURFACE.
STACKED BALCONIES AND THE AUDIENCE ABSORBED HIGH- AND MID-FREQUENCY SOUND.
 WOOD PANELING WAS USED TO

ABSORB LOW-FREQUENCY SOUND.
 REVIVAL OF ROMAN THEATRE

FORM
ROCOCO
TOWNHOUSES
 ROOMS WERE SPECIFICALLY


DESIGN TO CREATE VARYING
ACOUSTICAL PROPERTIES.
 MARBLE ENTRANCE HALL:

RESOUNDED WITH THE RATTLE
OF SIDEARMS AND THE CLATTER
OF HIGH HEELS AS VISITORS
WALKED ACROSS THE STONE
FLOOR.
 LARGE DINING HALL:

ACOUSTICALLY ADAPTED FOR
TABLE MUSIC.
ROCOCO
TOWNHOUSES
 BOUDOIR:WOMEN’S PRIVATE

SITTING ROOM, DESIGNED
WITH SOUND ABSORBING
SURFACES WHICH LOWERED
REVERBERATION TIME.
 SALON: DESIGNED TO IMPRESS

AND ENTERTAIN GUESTS.
DAMASK-PANELED WALLS
WHICH ABSORBED SOUND AND
SHORTENED REVERBERATION
TIME, AND WOODEN DOES
WHICH GAVE THE RIGHT
RESONANCE FOR CHAMBER
MUSIC.
Thank You


ACOUSTICS

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(HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE)

 GREEK PHILOSOPHER PYTHAGORAS = experiments on

 Festivals honoring Dionysus, God of Wine

 The Greatest Theatre of Epidaurus.

 14, 000 seat theater

 Architect: Polykleitos The Younger

 By shaping the steeply banked seating

• the wind carried sound to

• De Architectura (Book V) “Sounding vessels in the

• Vitruvius applied Pythagorean principles of harmonic

• Determined the correct mechanism for the transmission

• RESONANTIA – a sound being bounced back and forth

 “In accordance with the  “Then, having constructed niches

 DESIGNED FOR THE GREATER

 LARGE ROOM VOLUMES.

 THE FRONT OF THE AUDITORIUM

 WOOD PANELING WAS USED TO

 REVIVAL OF ROMAN THEATRE

 ROOMS WERE SPECIFICALLY

 MARBLE ENTRANCE HALL:

 LARGE DINING HALL:

 SALON: DESIGNED TO IMPRESS

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