National Opera Bucharest, Romania
Bucharest in Romania 2013-2015
Room Acoustics
Renovation / Alteration
Client:
ONB Bucharest
Architects of the reconstruction:
Radu Pana and Marius Smigelschi
Project Description:
The historic building of the National Opera Bucharest suffered from too dry and generally shortcoming room acoustics.
The conditions for the musicians in the orchestra pit were also very bad in terms of mutual listening.
To improve the acoustics, therefore, a major renovation was carried out, partly with alterations in the orchestra pit.
The acoustic task was basically to significantly improve the acoustic properties of the hall through the replacement of absorbtive surfaces (ie carpet, fabric wall coverings, etc.) by reflective materials (wood paneling, new stalls design).
After extensive investigations (measurements and simulations) an increase of the reverberation time by 0.2-0.3 s to actual values of about 1.3 to 1.4 s was finally achieved.
Also the very high clarity (typical for speech theater by + 5 ... 6dB) could be reduced to values of 0 ... + 2dB for the opera performances.
Together with the changes in the geometric situation in the pit, the acoustic characteristics of the hall for musicians, singers and the audience are now very satsifactory.
