Lynn University’s newest state-of-the-art facility, the Wold Performing Arts Center in the heart of Boca Raton, features superb acoustics, a modern lighting system, a large, light-filled lobby, and flexible space utilization that is well-suited for dramatic productions, concerts and other cultural events.

The new perfomance center includes a 750-seat theater, black box theater, scene shop, dressing rooms, green room, pre-function room, and other support spaces. Acentech designed the audiovisual system to perform flawlessly; it provides clear intelligible sound to each seat. The system can also be effortlessly reconfigured to meet the demands of the different types of productions. Using a REVIT model to convey concepts, we collaborated with the architect to optimize the location of the audiovisual equipment while minimizing the impact to the architecture.

The audiovisual system complements the architectural acoustics design, which employed velour curtains in the upper volume to maximize the room’s acoustical flexibility as cost effectively as possible. We paid special attention to acoustical space planning, sound isolation, and noise/vibration control of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems to ensure suitably quiet background sound levels. We used a CATT-Acoustic computer model of the main theater to confirm that design metrics such as reverberation time, strength, clarity, and fractional lateral sound were optimized throughout the space. Our model helped shape the twisted sound-reflecting panels at the rear of the room and validated the application of the acoustical materials at the concave parterre walls.