A comparative study of modeled and measured room responses

At the heart of Brown University’s Lindemann Performing Arts Center is a shape-shifting hall capable of supporting a wide range of performance types. Acoustic simulation played a crucial role in optimizing each of the hall’s five primary configurations during design. Leading up to the opening events 2023 and 2024, the lengthy commissioning and tuning process provided an invaluable opportunity to measure subtle and drastic changes in the hall’s form and materiality for comparison to the predictive simulation. Drawing from the Lindemann set, the paper compares modeled and measured data from the PAC to that from other projects designed using similar tools. The paper identifies points of uncertainty during design and delves into commonalities and differences between ray-based simulation and measurement in performance spaces of varying form. This paper will address the inherent complexities of approximating acoustic behavior with side by side comparison of measurement and simulated data, we will share insights that inform our future modeling process.