Sir, – It was refreshing to read Peter Lynch's article ("The sound principles behind concert hall acoustics", July 16th) on the seminal work in architectural acoustics undertaken by Wallace Clement Sabine in Harvard at the turn of the century.
What is less well known is the manner in which Sabine’s findings were advanced on the other side of the Atlantic and first implemented in architecture and construction.
Central to this was an Irishman, Dublin-born Hope Bagenal.
In 1918, Bagenal became the first independent acoustic consultant in either Britain or Ireland. In an era when acoustic consultants were few and far between, Bagenal’s expertise was sought from as far afield as Australia, Africa, India and America. His first international consultancy was for the new Legislative Chamber in Delhi on behalf of the government of India, his second for the League of Nations’ Assembly Hall.
Bagenal also fought a protracted battle to have acoustics incorporated into the architectural curriculum in Britain and Ireland, as initially the subject matter was deemed by the powers that be to be too complex for students of architecture.
Bagenal was to build on Sabine’s work throughout the course of his career. Although best-known for his international work, many of his advances were applied in buildings in Ireland, particularly throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
Incidentally, Bagenal’s dissertation on acoustics – for which Sabine acted as external supervisor – was initially rejected by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1914. The potential and scientific merit of studies in architectural acoustics was not recognised by that body until after the first World War, when Bagenal’s initial thesis was proven to have been correct and the RIBA reconsidered its decision.
However, no grudges were held – shortly thereafter Bagenal was appointed acoustic consultant to the RIBA’s new buildings. He was to become a key figure in developing construction standards for acoustics and sound insulation – and noted internationally as an acoustic consultant. He was to write the first textbook on architectural acoustics to have been used on the curriculum in universities in Britain and Ireland, including our own University College Dublin. From the 1920s onwards he consulted on the acoustics of buildings as diverse in scale and function as Abbey Road Studios, the Royal Albert Hall and Newry Town Hall. He is primarily remembered for his work on London’s Royal Festival Hall. His work on the latter building was avidly followed in the “London Letter” column of this newspaper in the 1950s and 1960s.
Bagenal’s final consultancy was in the country of his birth in 1972 – when he called in by the noted tenor Bruce Flegg to resolve an acoustic issue at the Theatre Royal in Wexford. – Yours, etc,
FIONA SMYTH,
Department of the
History of Science,
Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.