The Problem: The Cummings Atrium inside the I.M. Pei-designed Mount Sinai Medical Center is a striking venue, but a riddle of acoustic issues for Mount Sinai director of special events Eileen Solomon. She uses the venue for the hospital’s annual Crystal ball, which includes speeches, a video presentation, and music for dancing. “It’s all hard surfaces. Glass, steel, marble, brick—nothing sound absorbent at all,” Solomon says. “When I [started this job] four years ago, the one complaint I heard over and over is how awful the acoustics are. They just kept telling me, ‘They’re so bad, you can’t hear, you can’t think.’”
The Solution: In 2002, Solomon enlisted Steve Sockey of SIA Acoustics, the firm that designed the acoustics for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home. He created a solution that would coordinate with Bill Tansey’s decor while dramatically improving acoustics. For this year’s May ball, SIA dampened the room’s hard surfaces by suspending from the ceiling 624 4- by 4-foot and 4- by 6-foot glass fiber panels covered with fabric. Heavy velour curtains and more panels covered the walls and the space nearest the kitchen area.
For dancing, Sockey created a sound system that directed music at the dance floor, and wouldn’t interfere with conversation in the dinner area. “We designed a sound system that was very directional, with a lot of pattern controls so that it functions much like a light,” Sockey says. “You can have sound systems that are very broad, like a floodlight, or you can have sound systems that are more directional, like a spotlight configuration.”
A measure of the team’s success is the change in the time it takes for sound to decay in the room. The shorter the reverberation, the better the acoustics are for a room that hosts speeches and music. Before the event, the room’s reverb at speech frequencies was 3.46 seconds; with SIA’s acoustic treatment, it plunged to 1.68 seconds. “Acoustics are critical to the success of an event. When I got here, the attendance was 800. Now it’s soared to nearly 1,500, and people say they feel much more comfortable,” Solomon says. “The dance floor is hopping, and they can have a pleasant conversation at the table.”
—Suzanne Ito
Posted 07.11.05
This story originally appeared in the August/September 2005 issue of the BiZBash Event Style Reporter.
The Solution: In 2002, Solomon enlisted Steve Sockey of SIA Acoustics, the firm that designed the acoustics for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home. He created a solution that would coordinate with Bill Tansey’s decor while dramatically improving acoustics. For this year’s May ball, SIA dampened the room’s hard surfaces by suspending from the ceiling 624 4- by 4-foot and 4- by 6-foot glass fiber panels covered with fabric. Heavy velour curtains and more panels covered the walls and the space nearest the kitchen area.
For dancing, Sockey created a sound system that directed music at the dance floor, and wouldn’t interfere with conversation in the dinner area. “We designed a sound system that was very directional, with a lot of pattern controls so that it functions much like a light,” Sockey says. “You can have sound systems that are very broad, like a floodlight, or you can have sound systems that are more directional, like a spotlight configuration.”
A measure of the team’s success is the change in the time it takes for sound to decay in the room. The shorter the reverberation, the better the acoustics are for a room that hosts speeches and music. Before the event, the room’s reverb at speech frequencies was 3.46 seconds; with SIA’s acoustic treatment, it plunged to 1.68 seconds. “Acoustics are critical to the success of an event. When I got here, the attendance was 800. Now it’s soared to nearly 1,500, and people say they feel much more comfortable,” Solomon says. “The dance floor is hopping, and they can have a pleasant conversation at the table.”
—Suzanne Ito
Posted 07.11.05
This story originally appeared in the August/September 2005 issue of the BiZBash Event Style Reporter.