Designed by Hopkins Architects and opened in 2025, Oxford University’s Schwarzman Centre boasts all the facilities expected of a leading educational institution. Alongside the Bodleian Humanities Library and research and lecture facilities, are world-class spaces for music and arts, equipped with sound systems from d&b audiotechnik.
The showpiece 500-seat Sohmen Concert Hall is primarily intended for unamplified orchestral performance, but is now equipped with a d&b CCL (Compact Cardioid Line Array) system for amplified events. Elsewhere in the versatile, experimental space of the Black Box Performance Lab, the latest multimedia presentation technologies include a versatile rigging grid and immersive d&b Soundscape sound system.
Theatre consultancy Charcoalblue, who had led the design of technical performance infrastructure, was asked to consider sound systems for the Concert Hall and the Black Box. Charcoalblue’s Paul Franklin and Dicky Burgess knew that the Concert Hall’s need to be multi-use would call for a compromise of sorts. Burgess says, ‘They needed a top-quality mobile solution – a PA that was deployable, not permanent, because architecturally, the room is beautiful.’
The Black Box, meanwhile, needed a playback system with enough processing and source flexibility to reproduce the ‘immersive’ mixes created in the centre’s Dolby Atmos-equipped music studios.
Once d&b audiotechnik was chosen to provide the solutions, Creative Technology was appointed to handle supply and installation. ‘CT’s tender stood out both for the level of support they would give to the project, and also for their impressive track record with Soundscape,’ Burgess says.
d&b’s new CCL was chosen for the Concert Hall’s main PA, offering cardioid performance to a new class of compact line array, with two mobile groundstacks of two CCL-Subs, two CCL12elements and one CCL8. Additionally, 44S cabinets provide front fill, while Y7Ps cover the balcony, and a combination of E8 and E6 boxes covers the choir stalls. M6 monitor wedges and a B6-Sub (for drum-fill) are available for the stage, with d&b D40s the chosen amplifiers. ‘The size was one of the main reasons for choosing CCL, but also the cardioid technology,’ says Burgess. ‘The amount of sound produced by those small cabinets is quite amazing.’
In the Black Box, a d&b Soundscape system comprises three 360˚ ‘rings’ of 8S loudspeakers – 16 on the lower, 16 on the middle and another nine, plus two 21S-Subs, in the ceiling.
The choice of Soundscape was aided by the imminent release of new software – Create.Control – with its new visual interface, and extensive sound object and show control possibilities. Crucially for this application, it includes control of the Z-axis in the Soundscape environment –essential for the required Atmos playback. ‘Create.Control is a huge improvement in the d&b ecosystem, making Soundscape more approachable,’ says James Frost, project engineer for Creative Technology.
The Schwarzman Centre signals a new phase for Oxford University’s cultural ambitions. Its new programme will draw creatives and thinkers from around the world to focus on experimentation and co-creation together with Oxford’s communities and academics, enhancing artistic endeavours for generations to come.