In Friday’s (5/17) Los Angeles Times, Mike Boehm writes about concerns that have surfaced in connection with a light-rail subway line that will run near the Colburn School and Walt Disney Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s home. An acoustic experiment “was conducted April 23 in Thayer Hall, a below-ground performance and recording space at the Colburn School. The intimate venue, near 2nd Street and Grand Avenue, is closer than Disney Hall to the $1.37-billion subway’s route. [Yasuhisa] Toyota, Disney Hall’s acoustical designer, said that that the foundations of subway-adjacent performance halls he worked on in Tokyo and Shanghai have special features that reduce ground vibrations, but not Disney Hall…. Deborah Borda, president of the philharmonic, said she isn’t alarmed by the recent Colburn School noise simulation but thinks it’s helpful that it has brought increased awareness. ‘We all agree more analysis is required. [Disney Hall] is a treasure that has to be protected and maintained, and it will be.’ ” The subway line is scheduled to open in 2020.
Posted May 17, 2013
