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The company who provided civil,structural,design and building services to a £70m home for music,were able to witness the fruits of their labour when the building opened in December.
Connell Mott MacDonald,Principal Engineering Consultant at The Sage Gateshead,worked closely with architect Foster and Partners to develop a scheme of three halls,each fully enclosed and acoustically isolated from each other.
Each of the halls features excellent sound reinforcement and recording systems,as well as performance lighting.A 25-room music education centre runs beneath the halls and the complex is enclosed in a single space by a stainless steel shell.
Concrete was selected as the primary construction material for the halls,as it is able to produce complex geometric shapes,but offers inherent acoustic mass.
Due to the unique acoustic requirements of a building of this type, Connell Mott MacDonald undertook a study of the natural frequencies of potentially sensitive concrete elements to reduce vibration problems within the auditoria.The proportions of the three halls were selected to create the optimum performance characteristics for a symphony orchestra - including the cantilevered beam and slab arrangement in Hall Two to provide a column free environment for the audience.
The roof over Hall One spans 25m by 70m and includes three complex, dimensional steel trusses,with numerous services and the tensile cabling for the ceiling baffles threaded through.To allow the upper surfaces to be profiled to match the external roof,the steelwork and concrete roof were modelled with a Connell Mott MacDonald-designed interface,between the draughting and design software.
Beneath the roof trusses hang six suspended ceiling baffles at 20m by 6m across.These heavy timber constructions with skeletal steel frames weigh 15 tonnes each and are raised and lowered to alter the internal acoustic architecture.
Sustainability was a key element in design,which includes using displacement ventilation in the auditoria to supply comfortable temperatures,whilst maintaining energy efficiency.Contributing to further sustainable savings,the consultant used mixed-mode ventilation in the concourse linking all the facilities.
Even before its opening,the project's success has already been recognised with an award - the 2004 Robert Stephenson Award for concept and design of The Sage Gateshead,which was presented by the Institution of Civil Engineers Northern Counties Association.
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