BROADCASTING HOUSE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 December 1938, Page 6

BROADCASTING HOUSE

STRUCTURE IN WELLINGTON UNDER WAY SOME NOVEL FEATURES. SOUND INSULATED STUDIOS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The most up-to-date requirements of sound insulation and acoustics are embodied in the new Broadcasting House, the foundations for which, behind Parliament buildings, on the site of the old Dominion Museum, are now in hand. There are a number of unusual features, principally due to the fact that the need for safety from earthquake and other hazards conflicts with the requirements of sound insulation and acoustic properties. The structural engineer and the acoustical engineer have frequently found these requirements at variance and a compromise has often had to be adopted. Consequently, a steel frame building is being used for the main structure, for the use of the office and similar sections. The studios are to be an entirely separate structure, insulated by rubber supports from the main structuSe and the walls are to be built of brick for purposes of insulation. The studios are built in the central part and surrounded by the office portion of the building. On account of acoustical requirements they need a higher ceiling and therefore take up/the space of two office floors, of which there are five.

The studios will be entirely separated structurally from the steel-framed building!, but supported by it, with a rubber buffer insulation, designed and developed by the British Building Research Board, being followed. The studios also have to be insulated from each other, and this is attained by the use of fairly heavy brick walls, with a complete air space between the various walls of each studio. In other words, each studio is an entirely separate box supported on rubber. There will be one large concert studio, two mediumsized studios for orchestral and choral work and also a number of smaller studios for talks, dramatic productions, recordings, etc. Facilities are being provided for all the studios to be available for the direct production of programme matter, rehearsals and recordings.