Introduction

The audio-visual room (AVR) is a place where the students of all classes experience learning in an
effective way through audio and visual media. The room is well equipped with an LCD Projector, a large
screen, a wide screen television, and sound system for different subjects and different classes.

The audio-visual room of Cavite State University – Don Severino de las Alas Campus is located at
the ground floor of Engineering Science (ES) Building with dimensions 511 inches (42.58333 feet) length,
394 inches (32.83333 feet) width, and 151 inches (12.58333 feet) height. The AVR has 6 stairs, each with
511 inches length, 48 inches width, and 7 inches height. In this paper, the AVR of ES Building will be
designed as an opera house.

An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an
orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building. While some venues
are constructed specifically for operas, other opera houses are part of larger performing arts centers.

Acoustical Characteristics

The number of audience is based on the area of the room. The room has length of 42.58333 feet
and width of 32.83333 feet resulting to an area of 1398.15252 ft2. The number of seats based on the area
must be 78 seats.

In opera standards, the stage performance rather than the orchestra is the main attraction. The
stage house must be deep, with considerable wing space for set movement and storage. In AVR at ES
Building, there are 6 stairs incremented by 7 inches in height causing the stage to be deep. The stage has
dimensions 42.58333-feet length, 32.83333-feet width, and 12.58333-feet height.

Sight lines are important for theater, so opera houses tend to be shallower than concert halls. The
furthest seat is no more than 30 meters (98 feet) from the stage. Traditional European opera houses are
horseshoe-shaped, with many tiers of box seating, stacked like a layer cake. TIn the proposed design, the
furthest seat is 7.89900 meters (25.91667 feet). The shape of the seats is in linear arrangement as
followed to the existing shape of the stairs in AVR. The seats are incremented by 0.58333 feet like a layer
cake.

Reverberation times in opera houses are shorter than in concert halls, between 1.2 and 1.5
seconds. European theaters tend to fall into the low end of this range.
Overview of Design

As per assigned, the Audio Visual Room (AVR) of the Engineering Science Building of Cavite State
University- Don Severino delas Alas Campus was to be designed as an opera house. The design of the
opera house including the walls, ceiling, seats and stage are based on the standards of an opera house.

Figure 1 shows the top view of the room with the designed dimensions of the stage. It will be 70
inches x 362 inches placed in front.

Figure 1. Top view of opera house.

Figure 2 shows the side view of the room to visualize the proposed design of the opera house.
The door beside the stage will be the entrance and/or exit of the performers. The height of the room is
from 109 inches from the back to 151 inches on the front part. The stage placed at the front has a height
of 14 inches.

Figure 2. Side view of opera house.

Figure 3 shows the rear view of the rom. It shows two doors at the back for more ease of access
of the entry and exit of the audience with a height of 80 inches each and a width of 36 inches. It also
shows the elevation of the stage and the stairway which will contain the seats for the audience.
 Figure 3. Rear view of house.

Justification of Design

The table below shows the specific materials to be used, the location where these will be placed,
and the absorption coefficient of these at varying frequencies.

Table 2. Absorption coefficient of materials to be used

LOCATION MATERIAL FREQUENCY, Hz

125 250 500 1000 2000 4000
Back wall 12.5mm acoustic 0.35 0.35 0.4 0.55 0.7 0.7
plaster on plaster
backing over 75mm air
space
Ceiling Ceiling planar-form 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02
reflector panels
Left and Right Perforated metal 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02
Walls Reflective acoustic panels
panels
Main hall floor Cork floor tiles 0 0.05 0.15 0.25 0.2 0
Main hall floor 25 mm beech + 18 mm 0.1 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06
pine massive wood
flooring with 15 cm air
gap behind
Main Hall Ceiling Plasterboard 10mm 0.3 0.2 0.15 0.05 0.05 0.05
thick backed with
25mm thick bitumen
Main hall walls Smooth concrete, 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02
painted or glazed
Main hall walls Glaze plaster on 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02
masonry wall
 Seating Seats, leather covers, 0.4 0.5 0.58 0.61 0.58 0.5
per m2, occupied
Stage floor 25 mm beech + 18 mm 0.1 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06
pine massive wood
flooring with 15 cm air
gap behind
Stage gypsum 2x13 mm gypsum 0.15 0.1 0.06 0.04 0.04 0.05
walls board with 50 mm 50
kg/m³ mineral wool
behind
Stage ceiling Plasterboard 10mm 0.3 0.2 0.15 0.05 0.05 0.05
thick backed with
25mm thick bitumen
Door Solid timber door 0.14 0.1 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.1
AVERAGE 0.144615 0.129231 0.131538 0.14 0.146154 0.126923
Computations
0.049V
T60 =
Sa
Where: T60 = Reverberation Time (seconds)

V = Volume of Room (cubic feet)

S = Total Surface Area of Room (squared feet)

a = Average Absorption Coefficient of Room Surfaces

Sa = Total Absorption (Sabins)

0.049(42.5833 x 32.8333 x 12.5833)
T60 = = 1.26957 sec
2((42.5833x32.8333)+(42.5833x12.5833)+(32.8333x12.5833))(0.144615)

0.049(42.5833 x 32.8333 x 12.5833)

T60 = = 1.42105 sec
2((42.5833x32.8333)+(42.5833x12.5833)+(32.8333x12.5833))(0.129231)

0.049(42.5833 x 32.8333 x 12.5833)

T60 = = 1.39612 sec
2((42.5833x32.8333)+(42.5833x12.5833)+(32.8333x12.5833))(0.131538)

0.049(42.5833 x 32.8333 x 12.5833)

T60 = = 1.31174 sec
2((42.5833x32.8333)+(42.5833x12.5833)+(32.8333x12.5833))(0.14)

0.049(42.5833 x 32.8333 x 12.5833)

T60 = = 1.25651 sec
2((42.5833x32.8333)+(42.5833x12.5833)+(32.8333x12.5833))(0.146154)

0.049(42.5833 x 32.8333 x 12.5833)

T60 = = 1.44689 sec
2((42.5833x32.8333)+(42.5833x12.5833)+(32.8333x12.5833))(0.126923)
 Reverberation Time
0.15

0.145

0.14

0.135

0.13

0.125

0.12

0.115
125 250 500 1000 2000 4000

Reverberation Time

Actual Design