Full of Sound and Fury

by Mark Robins | 3 December 2018 12:00 am

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[1] say its overall swoop projects sound coming from the stage directly to the audience. The installer/fabricator was Shaffner Heaney Associates Inc.[2], South Bend, Ind.

ALPOLIC by Mitsubishi Chemical Composites America Inc., Chesapeake, Va., www.alpolic-americas.com[3]

Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/full-of-sound-and-fury/

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