The alliance team for the Turku Music Centre has selected Akukon & Kahle Acoustics as acoustic designers for the Turku Music Centre.

The acoustics design team will include the most experienced concert hall designers from Finnish Akukon and Belgian Kahle Acoustics. The chief acoustic designers are the world-renowned acoustician Eckhard Kahle and Henrik Möller, an expert in the acoustics and functionality of multipurpose halls. In addition, Tapio Lokki, acoustics researcher and professor at Aalto University, has been appointed as expert for the client, the City of Turku. 

- PES-Architects has a long history of designing performance halls together with Eckhard Kahle’s firm. When compiling our team for the Music Centre competition, our thoughts naturally turned to Eckhard. A good acoustician takes into consideration the architect’s and users’ views, and this is precisely how our design project is proceeding, says Tuomas Silvennoinen, chief designer of the Turku Music Centre at PES-Architects. 

Past references of the internationally acclaimed Eckhard Kahle include the Philharmonie de Paris in France and the Stavanger Concert Hall in Norway. In Finland, Kahle is involved in the acoustic conversion of the new concert hall for Jyväskylä Sinfonia. 
   
Trained as a musician, Kahle holds a PhD in acoustics and is one of the world’s most in-demand acoustics designers. Akukon is an expert in acoustics, noise abatement and audiovisual design services in Finland and the Baltic countries.  

Acoustician Eckhard Kahle and architect Martin Lukasczyk. Photo: Satu Mattila

World-class acoustics for the Turku Music Centre  

World-class acoustics is one of the key goals of the Turku Music Centre. Prior to appointing the acoustics designers, representatives of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra discussed the acoustic targets and ideal soundscape with the acousticians and visited reference projects in Norway.  

- We soon established that Kahle’s views are very similar to ours as regards the acoustics of the new Music Centre. We want the audience to be immersed in the music. I’m confident that our common goals will lead to an excellent outcome, says Nikke Isomöttönen, Chief Executive of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Internationally significant music centre 

The Turku Music Centre is set to be a major international music centre, combining world-class acoustics with outstanding functionality. The building will be a new jewel in the string of cultural venues on the banks of the Aura River in Turku, which already includes the Sibelius Museum, Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Museum, House of the Arts, Turku City Theatre, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum and, in future, the Museum of History and the Future. In addition to housing the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the centre will serve a variety of other forms of music. 

The building will feature two auditoriums: a 1,300-seat concert hall designed for acoustic orchestral music and a 300-seat multipurpose hall. The venues and foyers of the Music Centre can host a wide range of events, and its café and restaurant, as well as the public rooftop terrace, will make the building open and inviting even outside performances. 

The client for the project is the City of Turku. The building will be built in the alliance model, where the alliance partners include the City of Turku, Hartela Länsi-Suomi Oy, PES-Architects Ltd, WSP Finland Oy, and Laidun-design Oy and the Akukon & Kahle Acoustics team as subcontractors. The aim is that construction could start in summer 2023. 

Keywords: