MIES - Royal Conservatory

The Royal Conservatory, Canada's preeminent music institution, has been, for the greater part of it's life, a 19th-century masonry building at the edge of the University of Toronto campus. In 1991, the University and the Conservatory split, thus forcing the conservatory to start a new master planning that only recently is nearing finalization. Designed by the Toronto-based architecture firm Kuwabara Payne McKenna Hall, McMaster Hall has expanded beyond its Victorian footprint with the addition of a 1,100-seat concert hall.






(from ArchRecord)
Given the existing brick and stone construction, acoustics were naturally a problem for this assembly hall. Furthermore, with great financial backing, the Conservatory wanted the space to suit the needs for all kinds of music (including vocal soloists, pianists, cellists, etc.). The idea was to transform Koerner Hall (the new name) into a "state-of-the-art venue" which would entertain the best of musical performers from all corners of the globe. Some of these musicians have included Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea and John Williams.





The key to this design was the acoustical functions for each room. The sound in the room must be accentuated by material surfaces that act "like extensions of the instruments," as Bob Essert, director of Sound Space Design says. Of note, take a look at the detail drawings for the main concert hall ceiling, which shows the construction of a curvilinear wood panelling system which helps in this regard. After numerous acoustical models were constructed, this was the size and shape that worked best for KPMH and the Conservatory's many needs.