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Project Experience

Civic & Community

Port Moody Civic Centre

About These Projects

The Port Moody Civic Centre is the anchor for the public facilities in Port Moody, BC. A combination of public library, council chamber, civic offices and community theatre, the facility is very representative of the integrated design package provided by BKL Consultants Ltd.

We provided acoustical design for the combination council chamber/community theatre, noise isolation, noise and vibration control for the mechanical and electrical systems, and design of the theatre sound system, as well as the video presentation and control systems.

The council / theatre space was established early on as a circular room, the intent being to echo the railway roundhouse that is part of the heritage of Port Moody. We worked closely with the City’s user groups, the theatre consultant, the architect, and the general contractor to ensure that this acoustically difficult round room would be successful for both council meetings and drama productions, providing a balance of architecturally pleasing polycylindrical diffusion with absorption to provide a room free of problematic focusing and flutter echoes. The HVAC system is very quiet: even at airflow volumes substantial enough to blow paper off the stage, the air handling system is inaudible.

Two separate audio systems are incorporated into the room, a hands-free council speech reinforcement and A/V playback system, with automatic microphone mixers, and a small scale stereo theatrical production system. Because the council desks have to be removed from the stage for other productions, the desks are cabled together with multipin umbilicals which ensure that a particular microphone always shows up on the correct mixer input, even if accidentally positioned in the wrong location. The video presentation system combines video playback, a video copy stand, a slide-to-video converter, and computer graphics display capability with video projection on a 12’x16′ screen. Control of sound, video and lighting is handled through an integrated touch-screen control system, allowing the control functions to be tailored to new council members and new theatre applications.

Common Acoustical Challenges:

  • Echoes in unusual room shapes
  • Multi-use rooms
  • Very quiet HVAC
  • Speech reinforcement and audio/visual systems
  • Noise isolation between civic uses

Featured Case Study

Locomotive Wheel Vibration Study
Civic & Community

Port Moody Civic Centre

The Port Moody Civic Centre is the anchor for the public facilities in Port Moody, BC. A combination of public library, council chamber, civic offices and community theatre, the facility is very representative of the integrated design package provided by BKL Consultants Ltd. We provided acoustical design for the combination council chamber/community theatre, noise isolation, noise and vibration control for the mechanical and electrical systems, and design of the theatre sound system, as well as the video presentation and control systems. The council / theatre space was established early on as a circular room, the intent being to echo the railway roundhouse that is part of the heritage of Port Moody. We worked closely with the City's user groups, the theatre consultant, the architect, and the general contractor to ensure that this acoustically difficult round room would be successful for both council meetings and drama productions, providing a balance of architecturally pleasing polycylindrical diffusion with absorption to provide a room free of problematic focusing and flutter echoes. The HVAC system is very quiet: even at airflow volumes substantial enough to blow paper off the stage, the air handling system is inaudible. Two separate audio systems are incorporated into the room, a hands-free council speech reinforcement and A/V playback system, with automatic microphone mixers, and a small scale stereo theatrical production system. Because the council desks have to be removed from the stage for other productions, the desks are cabled together with multipin umbilicals which ensure that a particular microphone always shows up on the correct mixer input, even if accidentally positioned in the wrong location. The video presentation system combines video playback, a video copy stand, a slide-to-video converter, and computer graphics display capability with video projection on a 12'x16' screen. Control of sound, video and lighting is handled through an integrated touch-screen control system, allowing the control functions to be tailored to new council members and new theatre applications.

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