This large multi-purpose space also serves as the city’s community center.  It provides a cafeteria, exterior snack bar, open dining room. The design encourages student and community engagemens allowing greater space-planning flexibility. However, in the absence of an acoustician on the design team, it soon became apparent the lovely space was useful only as a cafeteria.   MCH was engaged to solve the excessive reverberance, reduce the problematic high noise environment (kitchen and HVAC combined), foster appropriate acoustics for student musical performances - and accomplish all this while respecting the architecturally impressive wood structure and finishes.

All the above was accomplished through neatly integrated strokes - each augmenting the other to yield an outcome far greater than the sum of parts. Noise control was achieved via modest re-working of a bank of supply air diffusors and substituting a roll-down door to the kitchen/serving area for its link-gate but this was further augmented by both spaced ceiling absorption and absorptive, sound-blocking, semi-custom rolling gobos that can both block cafeteria noise but also offer a suitable backdrop for (loud) bands.  Three large overhead sound reflectors help direct music toward audience further overcoming any otherwise problematic reverberance.