A Conversation with Yasuhisa Toyota

Date: August 22, 2006

Author: Kauffman Center

Kansas City’s new Performing Arts Center is often described as “world class.” Is that hyperbole or fact? Yasuhisa Toyota, the project’s chief acoustician makes a dramatic point. “A similar in-the-round audience experience and acoustics can be found today at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.” And there are more world-class reasons for future audiences to take note. Read what Yasuhisa has to say about the new concert hall.

What will the audience experience be like in the concert hall?

“It is difficult to describe the character and experience of acoustics. But, when I think of world-class halls with excellent acoustical character I think of Vienna and Amsterdam as historical examples and Berlin and Disney as modern ones. The sound in Kansas City’s concert hall will equal those.”  

But, Toyota added, it is the shape and seating arrangement that will create Kansas City’s world-class experience. Most historical halls are just a box with four walls in which the audience faces forward, toward the orchestra.

“In our design, the audience sits in an amphitheater-like setting, completely surrounding the orchestra. It creates a marriage of audience and artist that leads to an exciting, shared experience. Seeing the faces of others across the hall enjoying the same emotions and senses creates a unique experience enhanced by excellent acoustics. We want to achieve this feeling of sharing a performance with others.”

Where are the best seats?

“I get asked this all the time. Each seat has a particular attraction, which may vary by the person, the music, the conductor, and the program. Some of the best seats may be behind the orchestra, facing the conductor. But others might like to sit in the closest rows, really getting engaged with the musicians.  This is so different from the shoebox experience where you mainly see the back of the person sitting in front of you. We won’t have any “best” seats—we will have many excellent seats.”

What type of challenges does this design cause for the acoustics?

“The shape of the concert hall is very complicated. A shoebox hall is much simpler because we know how sound will react to that. But this project is as complicated as it is exciting. Recent computer design capability makes it much easier for us and, at Nagato Acoustics, we have developed our own computer programs to make this successful.”

Why are you building a scale model of the concert hall?

A tenth scale model of the interior of the concert hall was built for acoustical testing and also by other designers and contractors on the project.

“We use actual sound (or pulses) in the scale model. We record, analyze and play back the recorded sounds. Like the model itself, sound (waves) will be scaled to 1/10th its usual size. If you have ever recorded your voice on a tape recorder and played it back at a different speed, you have a basic understanding of our process. We emit sounds at 10 times their normal frequency, record them at 10 times their regular speed, then play them back 10 times slower. This will accurately represent the sound within the model. Computers make this faster and more accurate, but we are working with actual sounds you might hear in the hall.” 

Does acoustical work extend beyond the concert hall?

“Ah, yes, acoustics are part of every aspect of the performing arts center, from the proscenium theater to the grand lobbies. And I’ve really enjoyed this first chance to work with Moshe Safdie. He greatly appreciates music and performance and has a great vision for the role acoustics play.”