Case Study

Arts Commons

Year Completed

2015

Total Size

560,665 sqft.

About This Project

One of the largest multi-venue arts centres in Canada, Arts Commons spans a city block, including two heritage buildings, in downtown Calgary. All told, the centre comprises five theatres, numerous rehearsal rooms, offices, meeting spaces, a costume shop, set shop, cafe, central box office, and the Jack Singer Concert Hall, a 2,000-seat shoebox-style hall that’s recognized for its excellent music acoustics.

Every year, Arts Commons hosts over 1,800 performances and events, for example, theatre, concerts, dance, readings, public forums, art exhibits, and more. The facility is open to the public and home to six resident companies including the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Theatre Calgary, and Alberta Theatre Projects, among others.

Scope of services

Arts Commons opened in 1985, and as it reached its third decade, wear and tear began to take its toll.

In 2015, Williams Engineering brought together a team of consultants from across Canada to conduct a comprehensive building condition assessment. BKL provided acoustical expertise to the project and assessed room acoustics, ambient noise levels, and sound isolation between spaces for every venue at Arts Commons.

To complete its assessment, BKL reviewed available architectural drawings and carried out an on-site evaluation, taking measurements in each venue, analyzing data, and sharing findings with stakeholders in a detailed report. BKL assessed existing room acoustics and background noise levels, and investigated some specific concerns shared by Arts Commons user groups. For example, the centre was planning to replace the seats in Jack Singer Concert Hall, so BKL offered advice on seat selection.

After measuring and analyzing each venue and rehearsal space, BKL identified noise isolation problems in several rooms, verifying reports from Arts Commons user groups. BKL’s acoustical engineers identified transmission paths—that is, how noise was getting in—and made venue-by-venue recommendations for the best ways to fix the problems. Often, this meant adding acoustical treatments, or replacing worn door seals or missing wall or ceiling partitions.

Another acoustical issue was high background, or ambient, noise levels. For some spaces, higher background levels were due to noise transfer between spaces and from outside, something that would be solved by improvements to noise isolation. For others, noise from either HVAC systems or refrigeration equipment was an issue. Still others were affected by a combination of both. BKL’s acoustics team made detailed suggestions to limit background noise levels, and provided noise criteria for the HVAC system.

For any performance venue or rehearsal room, reverberation time is one of the most important room acoustic parameters, yet ideal reverberation times depend on the type of performance. For instance, reverberation times that are ideal for music aren’t necessarily suitable for dramatic performances. Performance spaces at Arts Commons host a mix of events—amplified and acoustic concerts, lectures, theatre, for example—so the acoustics had to support a range of activities.

During its assessment of reverberation times, BKL found that, aside from the Jack Singer Concert Hall, many of the spaces were well-suited for drama but too dry for music. Where this was an issue, the acoustics team recommended replacing carpeting with hardwood floors in order to reduce excessive high-frequency sound absorption and provide ideal acoustics for a greater variety of performances.

Project Benefits

BKL’s analysis, as part of a wider building condition assessment, helped Arts Commons better understand the acoustical state of its performance spaces. By presenting findings in a detailed report, organized by venue, BKL made it easy to review its recommendations. This information helped the client plan for future funding initiatives and renovations, and answer the concerns posed by its user groups with space-specific data.

The People Behind Our Work

Our Technical Leads
Our Team

Paul Marks

M.Sc., MIOA

Vice President, Project Delivery

Paul Marks, M.Sc., MIOA

Vice President, Project Delivery

Paul Marks joined BKL in 2013. He is a full corporate member of the UK Institute of Acoustics and the Canadian Acoustical Association. He has over 20 years’ experience in the measurement, analysis, and assessment of noise, vibration, and acoustical matters and is a former member of the technical advisory team working with the UK government on noise and statutory nuisance issues. During this time, Paul has undertaken major projects within Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

He has experience in a wide range of multi-disciplinary environmental assessment projects including highway, rail, and air transportation infrastructure, mixed-use and brownfield regeneration schemes, renewable energy facilities, and power generation plants.

Paul also has experience in a broad range of building and architectural noise assessment projects including the design of residential, office, educational, and commercial buildings. He has also undertaken acoustical studies for major infrastructure developments including work in the design of appropriate sound-fields for room-spaces in multi-occupancy buildings, including atriums and performance spaces. His work regularly involves close liaison with other acoustical engineers, planning consultants, architects, designers, and a variety of specialist environmental consultants.

Paul is an experienced expert witness within the UK and has a broad experience of planning, licensing and statutory nuisance proceedings as well as being responsible for the successful design of a variety of impact mitigation measures including detailed engineering solutions, lay-out design, and administrative regimes where it has been necessary to closely liaise with clients, designers, and regulatory bodies in order to provide developments in accordance with sustainable principles.
Katrina Scherebnyj

M.A.Sc., P.Eng., MIOA

Technical Director, Building Acoustics

Katrina Scherebnyj, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., MIOA

Technical Director, Building Acoustics

Katrina Scherebnyj started consulting in acoustics in 2007 in England and joined BKL in 2014. Her experience covers architectural acoustics, mechanical noise control, and environmental noise control, and she has worked on major projects in Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

In architectural acoustics, Katrina has worked on a range of new builds and refurbishment projects including schools, universities and higher education facilities, hospitals and healthcare facilities, performance spaces, cinemas, laboratories, office buildings, hotels, and residential buildings. She has provided acoustical design services in relation to sound insulation, room acoustics, and noise control.

Katrina was a co-author of Music Accommodation in Secondary Schools: A Design Guide, published for the UK Department for Education in 2010. Researching the guide, she carried out acoustical measurements in the music departments of several schools and interviewed music teachers and students on the suitability of their music spaces.

Katrina has extensive experience modelling internal sound fields and has carried out numerous models of performance spaces, lecture theatres, and other spaces where acoustical design is critical. She also has experience modelling outdoor noise propagation and has constructed and reviewed noise models for Columbia Containers in Vancouver, BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals, the Pinnacle (once planned to be London’s tallest building), Crossrail, and other transportation projects.

Katrina is a member of the Canadian Acoustical Association and the Institute of Acoustics (UK).
Henning Schlechtriem

M.Sc.

Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Henning Schlechtriem, M.Sc.

Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Henning Schlechtriem, M.Sc., joined BKL in February 2020. He has 8 years of international project experience working as professional acoustical consultant in the design and assessment of residential and non-residential buildings.

Henning has a Master’s Degree in Acoustics with Environmental Applications and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering with specialization in building physics and acoustics. His professional expertise focuses on the fields of architectural and environmental acoustics. He is a proficient with software such as Odeon, SoundPLAN, STRUTT, Insul, Rhino+Grasshopper, Max/MSP, and with measurement equipment from Brüel And Kjær, NTi and Norsonic.

He has worked together with architects, investors, municipalities, as well as structural and mechanical engineers, covering a wide range of projects including office, residential, and mixed-use buildings, hotels, hospitals, schools, and cultural venues. His work has involved the acoustical design and on-site assessment of room acoustics, sound insulation including flanking transmission, environmental noise and noise from building services.

Henning has given presentations to architects and technical planners to share his knowledge about the acoustical design of masonry, concrete and lightweight constructions, timber-concrete hybrid buildings and general acoustical challenges during the design of buildings.

He is a member of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Akustik, the German Association of Acoustics (DEGA) and is an Approved Assessor for Acoustics and Building Physics at the Chamber of Engineers in NRW and Hessen (Germany).
Andrew Williamson

P.Eng., B.S.M.E.

Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Andrew Williamson, P.Eng., B.S.M.E.

Specialist Acoustical Consultant

A graduate of the University of Victoria, Andrew Williamson holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and has practiced as an acoustical consultant in BC for over two decades. He joined BKL in 2023.

During his career, Andrew has worked on numerous projects involving environmental noise assessments, building noise and vibration control, and architectural acoustics. As a project manager, Andrew has led acoustics teams on a variety of projects across sectors including cultural and recreation, education and research, health care, industrial, commercial, and residential.

Andrew has attended public meetings, open houses, and government-sponsored working groups to present and discuss technical information with the public, municipal councils, and members of the government and other organizations. In addition, Andrew has acted as an expert witness in BC Supreme Court and participated in a joint review panel hearing for the environmental assessment of a major infrastructure project.

Andrew is a Professional Engineer registered with Engineers and Geoscientists BC.