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SJC and WSDG partner for Ponte Vedra Concert Hall renovation

The Ponte Vedra Concert Hall (PVCH) has established itself as a port of call for touring musical acts passing through northern Florida since its founding in 2011. In May of 2024, 501(c)(3) organisation SJC Cultural Events Inc. committed to a renovation of the hall. As part of these upgrades, SJC brought on acoustic designers WSDG.

“We couldn’t have imagined how much it was going to grow when we founded the space in 2011”, says SJC CEO and President Gabriel Pellicer. “At the time, we simply believed we could create a cultural enhancement for the community that could also serve as a valuable touring stop for artists moving up and down the Florida coast. After fourteen years, it had become clear that we were overperforming in terms of the level of artists we were able to attract and the quality of shows we were able to put on. We’d always known that we wanted to do more with the venue, so the time was right to give it a chance to properly grow.”

In addition to size expansions in both the stage and seated capacity, technical and acoustic upgrades were top of the list. WSDG partnered with local Ponte Vedra Beach architectural firm Fisher/Koppenhafer Architecture and Interior Design as well as Owner and Systems Designer Stephen Unklebach of AVL Productions, and fellow acousticians Rulon International and EZ Acoustics, all local Florida businesses.

The WSDG design team - consisting of Sergio Molho (Partner, Director of Business Development), David Molho (Partner, Project Engineer) and Luis Hermida (Project Engineer, Acoustics) - was tasked with ensuring that the venue’s character was preserved, while making critical  improvements in speech intelligibility and audibility. As much of the music performed at the Concert Hall is organic, roots music in the folk, bluegrass, and blues traditions, enhancing the acoustical characteristics of the hall to elevate the experience of these genres was a key aspect of the project.

The WSDG team created a 3D model of the live music venue and proposed a series of acoustic solutions that would be undetectable to the untrained eye while still providing the desired outcomes. As the venue’s ceiling utilises an open cell foam for thermal reasons, WSDG took advantage of this existing feature to solve certain low-frequency acoustical issues. Subtle, flutter-free diffusion was introduced along the side and back walls to control first-order reflections toward both the stage and audience.

Electroacoustic requirements provided by AVL Productions for a new L-Acoustics line array were also taken into account for improved low end. “We implemented a solution that was largely invisible and took advantage of the venue’s existing infrastructure where possible to keep costs reasonable”, says Sergio Molho. “The diffusion on the walls was a fairly simple change, but it made such a big impact on the overall quality of the acoustics in the room and allowed us to hit our targets.” Michael Livingston, PVCH Senior Production Manager, adds: “Sonically, WSDG was able to achieve exactly what we were hoping for - improved control of the acoustics to suit the new line array and ensure improved intelligibility all around.”

The completed renovations for the main concert hall have increased its capacity by nearly 25 percent, allowing it to now support a standing room of 1,100 or seated capacity of 615. The increased stage size now can better accommodate the larger groups of performers that PVCH has been regularly attracting.

(Photos: SJC Cultural Events/WSDG)

www.wsdg.com

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