SNAPSHOT
It hangs, imposing like the Sword of Damocles, on the ceiling of the University of Iowa’s School of Music’s Voxman Music Building’s 700-seat concert hall in Iowa City, Iowa. But in reality, it’s a suspended “theateracoustic” system, which unifies acoustics, lighting and life-safety requirements into a dramatic, multifunctional architectural expression. This intricately sculpted element is assembled out of 946 unique, folded-aluminum composite modules of ALPOLIC metal composite material by Mitsubishi Chemical Composites America Inc., Chesapeake, Va., and was digitally fabricated from a parametric model. Designers at Seattle-based LMN Architects say its overall swoop projects sound coming from the stage directly to the audience. The installer/fabricator was Shaffner Heaney Associates Inc., South Bend, Ind.
ALPOLIC by Mitsubishi Chemical Composites America Inc., Chesapeake, Va., www.alpolic-americas.com
