Visit to British Columbia University's Chan Center for the Performing Arts

by Keiji Oguchi / October 21, 2004

In this month's and next month's newsletter, I will share my observations of two halls I visited during my tour of Canadian and European halls in November and December 1997. This month, I will discuss the Chan Center for the Performing Arts, which was completed last year at British Columbia University, in Vancouver.

The Center is an oval-shaped building and houses a concert hall, playhouse, and a cinema. Chan Shun Concert Hall seats 1,400 persons. It is named in honor of the Chan Family, who contributed substantial sums of money toward the Concert Hall project and were the largest contributor to the campaign that enabled the concert hall to be built. The acoustical consultant for the concert hall was Artec Consultants in New York, under the direction of Russell Johnson. Chan Shun Concert Hall repeats the shape that Mr. Johnson has been using in recent years, notably for his symphony hall in Dallas and Birmingham. Chan Shun Concert Hall is basically a shoe-box configuration, except that both ends of the main floor are rounded. Two tiers of balconies circle the main floor. A unique design feature of the hall is its high ceiling. Of course, a large, movable canopy is suspended above the stage. Incredibly, this canopy weighs 37t, and houses both the stage lightings and loudspeakers! An aspect of the Chan Shun Concert Hall's acoustic design that distinguishes it from the Dallas and Birmingham halls is the lack of a reverberation chamber around upper walls and ceiling. Because the wall around the back of the stage is acoustically transparent punched metal, it appears that Mr. Johnson's intent is to have the area behind this wall serve as the reverberation chamber. The Chan Shun Concert Hall interior is rough-finished concrete with maple-wood accents. Retractable, acoustically absorbent bannerss have also been installed along all the walls to enable adjustment of the hall's acoustics.

I visited the hall during a rehearsal of the university's brass band. The canopy was suspended at a height of approximately 9 meters and the banners were completely unfurled along the walls. My impression while listening to the rehearsal from the balcony seating was a true brass sound and the length of the reverberation seemed exactly right. Consequently, my supposition is that the sound would be somewhat dead with a full audience. When I moved to a location behind the stage, I discovered that the punched metal wall is half-blocked by paneling. Nevertheless, the rehearsal performance sound was very real. The height of the canopy and deployment of the banners is decided among the musicians, conductor, and the hall's staff, based on advice provided by Mr. Johnson. The hall staff that guided me through the hall shared with me that the university's music department personnel and local Vancouver musicians initially were uncertain about the hall's long reverberation time. However, when I Musici from Italy performed at Chan Shun Concert Hall, they commented on what a wonderful hall it is, and this allayed everyone's concerns about the hall. I found it heartwarming to hear this story, as it so often happens in Japan as well that it takes the approval of a musical group visiting from ab road to put the stamp of approval on a hall's acoustics.