Level Acoustics & Vibration was commissioned to investigate the internal sound insulation in the renovated TivoliVredenburg in the center of Utrecht. This new musical palace was built around the internationally acclaimed concert hall, the ‘Grote Zaal’, that has remained unchanged during the renovation. Four more music halls were added in the new design, with programming varying from jazz to pop music.
Accommodating multiple music genres in the same building calls for adequate sound insulation. Sound levels in the pop hall can be considerable, while silence is desired in the classical music rooms. When these different kind of concerts take place at the same time, it is important that guests are not disturbed by the other music or by guests in the foyer during the interval.
In most situations in the building the box-in-box structures were able to adequately dampen sounds from other parts of the building. However, the chamber music hall ‘Hertz’ did seem to suffer from disturbance from the pop hall ‘Ronda’ positioned below it and the jazz hall ‘Cloud Nine’ positioned on top of it. This was especially the case for the generally more problematic lower frequencies. Extensive measurements with several types of sources were conducted to feed a large calculation model in order to define the structural part(s) responsible for the sound leaks.
The investigation was executed in close cooperation with designers, builders and users.
