Top: Musée du quai Branly
in Paris, France
Above: Bühler’s new office
in Utzwil, Switzerland
Opposite page: Perez Art
Museum in Miami, USA
STAGE TECHNOLOGY
GERRIETS
Quiet
revolution
R ecent projects reveal a revolution
in auditorium design: flexible and
variable auditoriums embedded
in all kinds of different building
styles, made possible by the use
of acoustic curtain systems.
Three projects realized by Gerriets in recent
years demonstrate the possibilities of these
systems. The company says that multilayer sound
curtain systems can allow for the quick and easy
transformation of any space, thereby providing
a sound reduction of up to 26dB, and offering
the benefit of unlimited options for design and
architectural integration.
One of the most iconic new museums of the
last decade is the Perez Art Museum in Miami,
Florida. The Herzog & de Meuron landmark is
nestled alongside Miami’s Biscayne Bay and hosts
some of the finest art of the 20th and 21st century.
The museum also strives to be an educational
and civic forum, highlighting the diverse
community of the region and its geographical
position at the vertex of the Americas. It was
therefore important to integrate an auditorium
with maximum programming opportunities.
From staircase to forum
The most frequented area of the museum is the
main staircase leading into the exhibition spaces.
The stairs can be used as staggered seats and the
open space can be divided into smaller sections
by extremely heavy sound curtains, composed
of up to 10 layers of different fabrics and installed
on motorized heavy-duty track systems by
Gerriets. The outside layers of the curtains
Sound-damping curtains teamed with advanced
automated track systems are enabling venues
to create highly flexible and versatile auditorium
spaces in a wide range of building types
120 AUDITORIA 2019 VOLUME ONE
Gerriets