Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall
Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall is a concert hall that opened in the 54-floor Tokyo Opera City Tower in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, in 1997. It is part of a complex that includes Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery :ja:東京オペラシティアートギャラリー|, a recital hall, and the New National Theatre, as well as shops and restaurants. The hall's acoustic and architecture have been highly acclaimed by Yo-Yo Ma, András Schiff, Kent Nagano, and others. TOCCH is dedicated to the memory of composer Takemitsu Tōru, artistic director of Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation and concept adviser, who died before its inauguration.
Design and acoustics
The uniquely-shaped rectangular hall has a pyramidal ceiling that starts its rise above the second balcony tier and reaches its highest point nearer to the stage than to the back of the hall, the long rear part being covered with quadratic-residue diffusors. Over the stage hangs a sloping sound-reflecting canopy with an irregular lower surface.Studies for the acoustic design included those of the design and acoustic data of sixty-six concert halls in twenty-two countries, the taking of acoustic measurements in twenty-three halls in Japan, Europe, and the Americas, CAD modelling, and a 1:10 scale wooden model. Results from the last lead to alteration in the sloping of the balconies.
Aiming at the uniform distribution of sound sources on the stage to the seating areas in the auditorium, criteria analyzed included reverberation time and early decay time ; interaural cross-correlation coefficient ; bass ratio ; initial time delay gap ; strength ; and sound diffusion index.