Scotland Hall at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
After many years of solely playing in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) needed a new highly modulable space allowing orchestral rehearsals as well as smaller chamber music performances. Kerr Robertson and its GCCA team contacted me to bring Arup as acoustic and theatre designer before expending the services to include Fire and Structures. Working together, we provided an innovative theatre engineering solution to reconfigure the space in less than 30 minutes thanks to the inclusion of moveable side balconies; in rehearsal mode the balconies fold up flat against the walls, increasing the width of the hall and giving more space for the orchestra. The audience seats are also removed giving maximum floor area for the largest RSNO ensemble to rehearse. In performance mode the balconies are brought down and bleacher seats deployed creating an acoustically and visually intimate space. I left the project and didn’t see the construction phase but kept in regular conversations with Kerr through the years.
Architects: Glasgow City Council Architects (Kerr Robertson)
Theatre and Acoustic Design: Arup
Role : Multi-disciplinary Project Manager and Acoustic Designer
Completion: 2015