The importance of acoustical design in very large buildings such as arenas, pools and fieldhouses can't be overstated. Whether it's 20,000 seat NHL arenas, such as Vancouver's GM Place and the Calgary Saddledome, or 500 seat community hockey arenas, the control of reverberation time is important to maintain both speech intelligibility and background noise control.

Most facilities need to earn their keep by being more than a hockey barn these days. A well controlled and balanced reverberant decay spectrum can make a 20,000 seat venue work as well for the three tenors or the heavy metal band du jour, as it does for the next Stanley Cup hopefuls.

Acoustical design doesn't stop at reverberation control; reflections from very large wall and ceiling surfaces must be controlled to prevent late echoes from turning speech into a jumble. Control of background noise generated by the building support systems, such as HVAC, lighting, electrical, and even the refrigerators and plumbing for the concessions or washrooms, are important factors in the design services we offer for a large sports facility. We also offer sound system design services as an integral part of an acoustic design package since the sound system performance and cost are intimately related to the total acoustical performance of the building.

See our writeup on General Motors Place Arena - Vancouver, BC

For information on our experience on arena projects we recommend that you download our Sports Arena Acoustical Experience Data Sheet