BBM were engaged by our clients to create a new build music practice room as an addition to the grounds of a large residential property they had purchased. The brief called for a large space which was to be designed in such a way so as to avoid in acoustic terms any overt ‘standing waves’ or unwanted resonances and with a moderate amount of reverberation time to facilitate voice and acoustic instrument practice. The beautiful sloping site of the new structure was in place of a large outbuilding within the gardens, the footprint of which became a defining parameter of the scale of the new building.

BBM’s response to the brief was based around forming walls and roofs which avoided parallel surfaces, essentially timber internal finishes and a heavy acoustic curtain which could be deployed to modify the reverberation time of the space according to activity. Externally the building had to also accommodate a large 3.5kWp photovoltaic array to help offset the energy demands of the new building and the adjacent house – the roof of the later was not well suited to a PV installation. Slate cladding was chosen to compliment the unusual shape of the music practice room as well as the dark integrated solar PV tiles of the roof. The oversized PV roof is supported off the extended cheeks of the southern elevation which also serves to provide solar shading to the stunning garden window. A large full length roof light brings in north light into the space such that the internal spaces appear to be brighter than the outside in certain light conditions.

Two electric panel heaters provide the heating for the space.

Acoustically the design exceeded expectations providing a lively but neutral reverberation time without any annoying standing waves or resonances.