Zur Raumakustik einer groβen Festhalle

The festival hall of the Farbwerke Hoechst AG (volume 75.000 m³) consists essentially of a concrete dome and a glass cylinder as side wall. There is room for up to 3.500 persons. The hall will be used for all types of sports, cultural and social events. To inhibit the production of echoes the hall had to be provided with a highly absorbent coating on the inside. This reduces the reverberation time to 1 s. For musical performances the reverberation time is increased to an appropriate value by means of a reverberation apparatus. This consists essentially of a separate reverberation room and a great number of loudspeakers radiating the reverberated music into the auditorium. The favorable effect of these installations was proved by measurements of the reverberation time and the directional distribution.