A longstanding port stop for touring musical acts passing through northern Florida, Ponte Vedra Concert Hall (PVCH) recently undertook an ambitious renovation of the to accommodate the larger acts and audiences. As part of the programme, the organisation brought in WSDG for the critical work of enhancing the hall’s acoustic qualities.
Since its founding in 2011, the venue’s reputation as an artist-friendly space with a warm, enthusiastic crowd has drawn increasingly prestigious talent to perform on its stage. The catalyst for pursuing these upgrades was a desire on the part of SJC Cultural Events – the body behind the hall’s operation – to realise the potential that they had seen in the venue all along.
‘We couldn’t have imagined how much it was going to grow when we founded the space in 2011,’ explains SJC Cultural Events 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 14 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 high on the list: ‘After 14 years, we were ready to upgrade to a more capable sound system and wanted to ensure that both artist and audience experiences were elevated to reflect that change,’ says PVCH Senior Production Manager, Michael Livingston. ‘To that end, we assembled a team of local Florida consultants and businesses that could help us accomplish these goals. We became aware of WSDG’s reputation in these fields and quickly realised they would be a major asset to achieving the sonic goals we had for these upgrades.’
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 who brought a shared sense of pride and enthusiasm to the project.
The WSDG design team was asked to ensure that the venue’s existing lively 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.
‘It’s an incredible building to start with a big history and an important vibe component to it – we wanted to ensure that none of that was lost,’ says WSDG Project Engineer, David Molho. ‘Instead, it was an exercise of making subtle, but important changes that would elevate the experience of being there and enhancing the connection between audience and performers.’
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 uses an open cell foam for thermal reasons, WSDG was able to exploit this 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, effectively reducing flutter echo and enhancing the overall acoustic quality of the hall. Electroacoustic requirements provided by AVL Productions for a new L-Acoustics line array were also taken into account, to ensure a lively sonic experience with 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,’ Molho explains. ‘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.’
‘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,’ Livingston adds. ‘They’ve set us up to truly be able to deliver on the potential of these upgrades, and we’re incredibly excited to show everyone what the venue is now capable of.’
The completed renovations for the main concert hall have increased its capacity 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.
‘We’ve always been after the best version of ourselves in terms of our ability to deliver incredible events in an incredible space,’ says Pellicer. ‘Now we feel like we’re in a position to truly and confidently present exactly what we believe we’re capable of, and the impact it will have on our community, and the artists we bring in, is going to be massive. We’re incredibly proud.’
‘It’s a major accomplishment for a truly special venue,’ says WSDG Director of Business Development, Sergio Molho. ‘WSDG is honoured to have played a role in helping to shape an exciting new era for one of North Florida’s most important cultural destinations.’
More: www.wsdg.com