Marine Band Barracks, Washington, DC

Project Overview

Individual Rehearsal Space

The new U. S. Marine Corps Band Barracks Annex and Band Support Building is sandwiched into the southeast quadrant of Washington D.C. just a few blocks behind the U.S. Capitol building. The Annex houses three separate rehearsal facilities that simulate concert hall acoustics. The largest rehearsal hall will allow the full 160-member band to practice together and offers some seating for special visitors. In addition, there are 14 individual practice rooms to accommodate small groups of musicians. The design-build team of Brennan Beer Gorman Monk Architects & Interiors (Washington, D.C.) and Coakley Williams Construction (Gaithersburg, MD) won the annex assignment in December 2001 after a lengthy contracting process administered by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Henning Associates (Rockville, MD) was the acoustical design engineer, while Acoustical Design Collaborative (Ruxton, MD), served as the band’s own acoustical consultant.

Smaller Rehearsal Space

Between the two firms, no sound was left unanalyzed. For the construction team, achieving the right purity of sound has demanded a level of detail that encompasses every aspect of the project’s mechanical, lighting, flooring and finish requirements. "We spent an amazing amount of time to get this thing right. The acoustical requirements are the number one thing," says Capt. John R. Barclay, Executive Assistant to the Band Director, "Everything else is really icing on the cake."

Design Tools: Learn about the latest architectural acoustic design tools, including computer modeling and auralization, shape optimization and variable acoustic electronic architecture. Learn the basic concepts of applying acoustic treatment to specific room types.

RPG introduced the SIAP MKIV Processor developed by SIAP Acoustic Systems. The MkIV represents the next generation in electronic architecture systems, offering the industry’s most powerful time constant reverberation processor. The standard system offers 4 mic inputs, 6 line inputs and up to 64 outputs with up to 128 programmable FIR filters, each with separate frequency dependent early and diffuse reflections, density and length. Besides the standard system a small room system with 16 outputs is also available.

The SIAP approach is based on the principle of picking up only the direct sound to fill in the missing reflections, so that each room retains its unique sonic character. The SIAP MkIV Processor can also serve as an acoustical server, which enables the system to simultaneously provide different acoustical environments in several different rooms or provide several different local acoustical environments in the same room, as in a worship space. RPG will offer certification training for acousticians and sound contractors in their facility.

A full color brochure and DVD are available on request.
Everyone Should Hear It!

ISO Scattering and Diffusion Coefficient Measurement Methodology Standardized
Measurement and characterization procedures for scattering surfaces now standardized.

In the past 30 years, significant progress has been made in designing, optimizing, characterizing and now standardizing scattering surfaces. Acousticians now can specify the scattering and diffusion coefficients, in addition to the random incidence absorption coefficient. This research has led to progress in room acoustics and computer modeling. Two standards have emerged.

1. Scattering Coefficient: A scattering coefficient is a measure of the amount of sound scattered away from a particular direction or distribution. This has the greatest similarity to the coefficients required as inputs to geometric room acoustic models.
ISO 17497-1:2004
Acoustics -- Sound-scattering properties of surfaces -- Part 1: Measurement of the random-incidence scattering coefficient in a reverberation room (available in English only). To order go to ISO Store

2. Diffusion Coefficient: A diffusion coefficient measures the quality of reflections produced by a surface, in the case of the AES coefficient, by measuring the similarity between the scattered polar response and a uniform distribution. It is a measure of diffusor quality.
2.1 "AES information document for room acoustics and sound reinforcement systems- Characterization and measurement of surface scattering uniformity", J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No. 3 (March 2001).
2.2 This information document is in the process of being added as Part 2 to the ISO 17497-1:2004 standard.

Sign up for RPG’s Diffuse Seminars in 2005
RPG announces dates for the 2005 Diffuse Seminars

RPG seminars accredited by AIA Continuing Education System
RPG now offers four AIA/CES accredited seminars on various aspects of architectural acoustics.

The Next Generation of Acoustic Finishes, Shapes and Services
   ( AIA/CES AF1011 1 LuHour )
Participants learn how recent innovation and technology has resulted in a much broader variety of architectural finishes, shapes and services that solve age-old acoustic problems in the built environment.

Acoustical Diffusor Design/Computerized Shape Optimization
   ( AIA/CES DD1011 1 LuHour )
Participants learn the basic theory and history of sound diffusion as well as why sound diffusion is so essential in critical listening environments. A variety of methods, materials and products for diffusing sound will be presented.

Minimizing Acoustical Distortion in Critical Listening Spaces
   ( AIA/CES AD1011 1 LuHour )
Participants learn how sound reproduced in a critical listening room can be affected, positively or negatively, by a room's architectural surfaces prior to it arriving at the ears of a listener. A variety of methods, materials and products for minimizing the negative distortion of the reproduced sound are presented.


Desktop Acoustic Auralization of Architectural Spaces
   ( AIA/CES CA1011 1 LuHour )
Participants learn how recent innovation and technology in computer modeling has resulted in a reliable method for predicting the quality of a room's acoustics prior to its construction. Basic theory and examples of its application in practice are presented.