We Made It: Concert hall acoustics

Glasgow has a brand new concert hall, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra has a brand new home. A move for the Orchestra from Henry Wood Hall, a converted church in the city’s West End it has occupied since 1979, has been on the cards for several years, but few could have predicted the scale and intricacy of the final project.

The New RSNO Centre snuggles conveniently right next to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and brings new offices, an education suite, a digital centre and practice rooms right to the city centre. The project’s centrepiece, however, is the RSNO Centre’s auditorium, designed primarily as a rehearsal space for the RSNO, but also intended to function as a performance and recording venue. Engineering firm Arup have a long track record of putting acoustic excellence at the centre of venue design, and they were intimately involved in the RSNO project.

Lead acoustician Philip Wright explains the process of designing the RSNO’s acoustically efficient new auditorium, and just how he achieves the acoustic effects he desires. Read the full interview on the site of our partner Bruichladdich.

Read other articles in We Made It, our series on craft in partnership with Bruichladdich