manjimup sound shell | Sandra donovan sound shell 2014
site
The sound shell is conceived as a flexible piece of infrastructure rather than a hermetic object with a singular use. It will function as an acoustic stage for the variety of performances it hosts but also as a new and larger spatial ordering device for alternative public uses in the park. The open vista of the park is celebrated by the soundshell becoming a framing device. Climatic considerations have governed the orientation (on the suggested site) but the landscape in front of the stage has been reconfigured to provide a viewing area for the audience that slopes upwards from the stage ensuring that uninterrupted visual axes for the audience are established. By way of gentle earth works, the berming also provides a sound barrier during performances between children in the playground and the audience. This earth berming has been designed to cut and fill existing site levels and to retain all the surrounding trees.
stratergy
The proposal is shaped by three distinct strategic moves, each having varying levels of community involvement. The first is the machinery intensive constructed landscape, which solely involves the relocation of earth. The second is the adoption of a shed like prefabricated structural frame and commercial steel outer shell, which will reduce costs and simplify buildability. And the third is the crafting of an inner timber surface that is rich, tactile and acoustically precise. All the required secondary facilities are absorbed into the sidewalls of the shell and into the smaller projecting volume, which also creates a backstage, without enclosing it. Two mesh curtains, one at the front and the other at the rear of the stage, will also provide extra green room space for larger performances and a theatrical element to the design.
innovation
The idea of reshaping the site recognises the potential use of agricultural equipment in the community. The robust and industrial nature of the external envelope of the soundshell is constructed of galvanised steel whilst more subtly mirroring the surrounding flora and the seasonal changes in the adjacent parkscape. Internal surfaces and the smaller volumes are more malleable and fine, clad with local timber, referencing the Timber and Heritage Park and Manjimup’s history as a timber-milling town. A second timber sprung floor that can be rolled out on rails from under the stage, will provide for additional uses such as dancing.
experience
The design is reduced to the bare essentials of performance. The interior timber wall angles are determined by the anticipated maximum audience and to account for acoustics projection and creating a sense of intimacy for the viewers. The introduction of the steel curtains has two benefits. Firstly, they signal the opening of the show and secondly, the innovative use of a semi-transparent stainless steel material will allow performers to remain unseen whilst backstage. The design is minimal but contextual in terms of materials and forms. It will provide audiences with an element in the park that identifies the fundamental features of the site while rectifying its shortcoming
