Ravinia Pavilion
Project
The Ravinia Festival concert pavilion required acoustically reflective advanced composite wall panels to improve sound quality at the Chicago Symphony's outdoor facility. These composite wall panels engineered by acoustician Daniel Cummings produced surprisingly excellent sound reflection despite their very low weight of 4.2 pounds per square foot. These all FRP panels are composed of double-bias reinforcement and polyester resin. The panels include PVC closed-cell structural sandwich foam core with an intumescent coating to achieve the required fire resistance. Today this fire resistance could be achieved through the use of Kreysler & Associates’ proprietary resin formulations.
Details
Location: Highland Park, Illinois
Client Name: Chicago Symphony
Expertise: These 4.2 lb/ft2 panels are composed of biaxially oriented strand glass reinforcement by Knytex in isothalic polyester resin by Ashland Chemical. The panels include PVC closed-cell structural sandwich foam core by Divinycell.
Partners:
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Architect
Schal Bovis Construction, Contractor
Publication: Isopolyester News, June 1998. "Sound Solution Found in Isopolyester Composite"
