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ACOUSTIC DESIGN
Federation Square is a vibrant and exciting
collection of architecturally striking and individual buildings located
at the primary entry to Melbourne's Central Business District,
overlooking the picturesque Yarra River. The Federation Square site
includes approximately 48,000 square metres of building floor space
located on a 3.8 hectare site.
Facilities within the site and their associated
acoustic issues include:
• The Square, an open plaza
capable of hosting up to 15,000 people at any one time, with a large
video screen and an extensive open air sound reinforcement system
• The Atrium, a striking
structure made of glass, steel and zinc that is covered from above but
open to outside, including bars, cafes and shops
• BMW Edge, a 290-to-450 seat
performance space situated at the river end of the Atrium, designed for
music, small to medium scale theatre, comedy, talks and presentations,
product launches and cabaret. The architectural and aesthetic
requirements of this space, which is constructed entirely of glass,
steel and timber presented enormous challenges in achieving the desired
acoustic ambience without compromising aesthetics
• The Ian Potter Centre of NGV
Australia, the world's first major gallery dedicated exclusively to
Australian art. It is a spectacular showcase comprising over 20
galleries housed within a landmark architectural complex. The acoustic
challenges of the gallery spaces were many and varied, with difficult
room acoustics caused by hard surfaces of timber, glass and
plasterboard; isolation of sound transfer between open and connected
gallery spaces and achieving low mechanical services noise from high
capacity air handling systems
• Australian Centre for the
Moving Image (ACMI), a state-of-the-art facility for the preservation,
exhibition and promotion of Victorian, Australian and International
screen content, reflecting more than a century of Australia 's presence
at the forefront of the moving image industry. ACMI houses two
multi-format cinemas, the world's largest dedicated screen gallery and
hands-on public activity, education and production zones. The acoustic
design of the cinemas was particularly demanding, with a need to
isolate external noise from heavy traffic and trams on the adjacent
city streets, using only lightweight construction materials, as well as
incorporating a visually stimulating internal finish to accommodate the
architectural intent whilst still achieving the acoustic requirements.
The Screen Gallery offered additional challenges, with the location of
the suburban rail network within 10 metres of the Screen Gallery wall
• SBS - Radio, Television and
Online, includes the Melbourne studios and offices of SBS (Special
Broadcasting Service), Australia 's national multicultural and
multilingual public broadcaster. Programs in more than 60 languages are
broadcast on SBS TV, Radio and SBS Online
• Melbourne Visitor Centre,
highlighting what Melbourne and Victoria has to offer visitors.
The greatest acoustic challenge at Federation
Square was its location directly above Melbourne 's major rail link,
consisting of 14 separate rail lines catering for Melbourne's suburban
electric passenger trains, country diesel passenger trains and diesel
goods trains. The high acoustic sensitivity of the spaces above,
combined with high levels of vibration, airborne sound and
structure-borne sound generated by the constant rail traffic presented
the designers with a vibration and sound isolation problem of the
utmost complexity.
To control vibration and structure-borne noise
transmission, a vibration isolated “floating deck”
was constructed over the rail lines to support the sensitive buildings
above. A combination of high capacity steel springs and rubber pads
support specific regions (zones) of the concrete deck and buildings.
Marshall Day Acoustics was responsible for optimising the design
proposal and for the implementation phase of the deck vibration
isolation.
A myriad of challenges faced the acoustic
designers on this extensive and prestigious project, with an outcome
that had the highly sensitive acoustic spaces achieving compliance with
the design criteria for vibration and noise.
For more information on this exciting development,
go to www.fedsquare.com.au
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