Auditorium - Rome Music Hall

Auditorium Roma's mid-size hall was designed specifically for chamber orchestras and dance. The large amphitheatre is designed for open-air events. The large hall, designed for ballets and big orchestras, is the only venue that is not acoustically flexible.

An architect specializing in acoustics, Piano devised plans for buildings with shapes, dimensions and precise measurements that provide optimal and natural acoustics. However, had the largest hall been any bigger, electroacoustical amplification would have been needed. To make three concert halls, each acoustically independent of the others, Piano designed three separate buildings, or »containers«, architecturally reminiscent of classical Roman antiquity. There have been exacting research and several tests conducted, starting with laser reflection models and ending with large models in which sound reflection could be measured.

From the very beginning, Piano made sure, the room's acoustics would be perfect. Each of the three halls was designed with flexible acoustics. For instance, the smallest theater - the most flexible on campus - has a movable ceiling and floor with variable walls. The mid-size hall also has a movable stage and a variable ceiling. That hall is similar to one that Piano designed with the assistance of famous acoustic designer Helmut Müller, who is also participating in the Auditorium Roma project.

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