Skirball Cultural Center

The new North Building Complex includes a large, divisible banquet hall; a partially enclosed outdoor courtyard; a large atrium lobby for pre-function and reception events; meeting rooms; among other facilities. Acentech consulted on acoustics, audiovisual, and technology systems design for the many new spaces.

Acentech developed a series of sound simulations, or “3DListening®,” to bring to life several critical acoustical issues: the overall sound level and quality during an active banquet event, the sound isolating performance of two large dividing walls in the banquet hall, transmission of sound from a lively reception into an upper-floor meeting room, and transmission of sound between adjacent meeting rooms.

Acentech presented these auralizations to the project architects and representatives of the Skirball Center at Acentech’s offices. This experience helped give the group confidence in the design of the new building and helped to guide subsequent design decisions. The project owners and architects alike found the auralizations both exciting and helpful to the design process.

Designs for the audiovisual systems included four large screen displays, permanent speech reinforcement, and portable sound systems. Acentech partnered closely with the architect to blend the various audiovisual technologies into this architecturally unique building.