TIDES, Whampoa – Engineering unconventional noise and vibration controls within an iconic Hong Kong landmark

We had the opportunity to work with Live Nation Entertainment to create TIDES, a new medium-sized indoor music venue in Hong Kong. The venue is purpose-built, offering a fully equipped performance space for both local and global artists.  TIDES is located within a pre-existing space in the Whampoa mall, an iconic boat-shaped mixed-use development. Formerly a popular restaurant, the 30-year-old venue has been repurposed into a modern outfitted music touring venue. 

With the venue's original structure lacking any acoustic design, this project presented various challenges. Firstly, TIDES is situated amongst several residential towers, with the closest apartment windows being only 6 meters away from the venue. In addition, initial site surveys revealed that the ceiling slab in the venue resonated with bass frequencies produced by the music, causing vibrations that shook plates, dishes, and glasses in the restaurant above. It became clear from initial impressions that the need for sufficient noise control couldn't be overstated.

Moreover, due to the existing building's age and structural capacity, it could not withstand heavy loads. This ruled out traditional noise-control measures such as the “box-in-box” design, which requires a combination of heavy mass materials on the ceiling and floor to be successful. Based on the structure's original condition and the proximity of TIDES to nearby residential towers, it became clear that a minimalist, lightweight solution was the best way forward. 

In search of a solution, we collaborated with a local vibration specialist, Dr. C. F. Ng, to work on the vibration controls. From our collaboration arose the idea to use aluminium honeycomb panels as a primary acoustic control.

Aluminium honeycomb panels, which are more commonly used in aeroplanes, were proposed to control the bass-induced vibrations. These panels are lightweight and highly rigid, providing high attenuation at low frequencies compared to typical plasterboard ceilings used in conventional mass barrier ceiling systems.

Though unconventional, the use of the lightweight honeycomb panels avoided imposing heavy loads on the existing structure and complied with the identified space constraints. This approach was also more sustainable than the conventional method, as the ceiling supporting frame can be designed for a lighter load.

The natural response of the building slab was assessed using finite element modelling, and the ceiling frame was designed to shift the system's natural frequency away from bass frequencies, reducing vibrations. Membrane absorbers were installed within the ceiling cavity to provide further damping and noise mitigation to the space. 

For controlling the music in the external residential areas, all noise transition pathways were considered and properly treated with acoustic controls. New lightweight concrete block walls were constructed to cover the venue's façade glazing, additional acoustic doors with high insulation performance were installed, and attenuators were installed in the ventilation ducts to control music leakage along the ducts.

The team conducted noise and vibration measurements after the construction of our solutions, and the results showed that the design we implemented met the noise and vibration criteria, even when loud electronic dance music was played in the venue.

Though ambitious, we are very proud that we took the challenge with our unconventional design and are so pleased with the end results. Our ability to meet client expectations while dealing with various site constraints has shown us that innovative thinking can continue to deliver high-quality, bespoke acoustic solutions.