March 10, 2020
Did you know that we are designing the acoustics for the renovation of the SS United States? Cerami is partnering with RXR Realty LLC to repurpose the ship as a “permanently moored floating structure anchored by a hotel”. This unique Philadelphia project is having us suggest some interesting solutions.
Check out the Bloomberg News article on the ship here!
Mann Report, January 2020
A building made of hard panes of glass and located on a busy Midtown street should be a recipe for cacophony. But the $450 million newly reimagined Museum of Modern Art features an expanded 40,000-square-foot gallery space that can offer musical performances — and blessed quiet.
“It’s about understanding the user experience and how you translate into it,” said Victoria Cerami, CEO of acoustic and audiovisual consultant Cerami Associates. “It’s the difference between a restaurant experience or the office experience. But the museum is the intersection of art and architecture. The patron may not connect to why this is so cool, but if it weren’t there, you’d notice it. It’s that invisible, unconscious need.”
As the acoustic and audiovisual consultant for the Mo MA, Cerami melded art and science to create an environment that allows people to enjoy music without distraction from street noise, speak quietly and wander the exhibits without footsteps distracting others.
The redesign was led by New York architecture firms Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler. Cerami created an acoustical design focused on the lobby, bookstore, main staircase, gallery spaces, restaurants and eateries, Creativity Lab and the Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis live performance Studio. Dedicated acoustically absorptive finishes were applied throughout the gallery spaces, common areas and installations that included audio.
“The acoustical treatment at the stair at MoMA is also something you’d find at a restaurant,” said John Hauenstein, a Cerami principal. “That absorption may not come into play when the restaurant is lightly occupied or at a Sunday lunch. But at night when the bar is busy, it reaches a limit.”
The staircase is clad in suave, stained panels of micro-perforated bird’s-eye maple, cantilevered from a steel sheet connected to the ceiling and suspended like a mobile. Walnut-paneled walls to dampen the clatter of heels are speckled with micro-perforation.
Perhaps most striking is the Studio, a dedicated space for performance, music, sound, spoken word and film performances that faces the street. However, sound is blocked via a box-within-box construction, which places metal mesh within the façade, controlling sound and light that enters and leaves the space.
Acoustical ceilings were utilized to control noise levels in the common lounge and restaurant areas that involved eating/drinking, footfall, chair scraping, etc. Even the MoMA store implemented acoustical controls to provide a calm environment.
Cerami’s goal is to inform the client about the acoustic results of their design decisions so they can make the appropriate decisions, Maniscalco said.
“It’s about balancing the architect’s vision for the space and making it match,” added Matthew Schaeffler, associate principal.
Today, technology is increasing the accuracy of acoustical design without building a multitude of costly mockups. Cerami’s in-house demonstration studio allows clients to experience the varying results with different technologies. Virtual reality can allow clients to “walk” through a space and experience how noise levels (conversations, etc.) can change. In one case, a client in the midst of value-engineering a project made millions of dollars of decisions in 90 minutes after going through the simulations.
“We help guide them through the decision making for each company, and it’s different for each geography,” Maniscalco said. “What works for Google [a Cerami client] on the West Coast might not on the East Coast.”
The MoMA team was an early user of the studio, explained Virginia Demske, a Cerami associate.
“It was out of necessity. The whole team wanted to understand the implications of the façade,” she said. “Now, it’s become part of the drill. We’re always happy to do it.”
Engineering is one of the most male-dominated professions in the United States where only 13% out of 1.6 million engineers employed in the United States are women, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics and the Society of Women Engineers. This gender gap starts in school, where male secondary students are more likely to take engineering classes than females and only 7.9% of women enter college with intentions to major in Engineering, Math, Statistics, or Computer Science.
Thornton Tomasetti’s Day of Discovery hopes to shift this trend by exposing young women to career opportunities in structural engineering, architecture and construction-related fields. Day of Discovery gives girls in grades nine to 12 an introduction to the AEC professions from women who work in the industry. This year’s program drew 50 participants, some of whom were event veterans.
Each of the speakers talked about her own career path and what her position entails. This year, our very own Caitlin Ormsbee had the opportunity to talk about the acoustic engineering she did for One Vanderbilt, specifically the cooling tower and observation deck auralizations.
After the presentations, the girls were tasked with creating skyscrapers of their own using K’Nex construction pieces, then presenting their design approach and objectives to the group.
The students ended the day with a visit to One Vanderbilt to see first-hand how building design comes to life on a large scale. After donning hard hats and vests, they made their way up to the 58th floor of the skyscraper. With the floor still under construction, they were able to see beams, girders and other structural elements coming into place.
New York, NY, October 21, 2019 – As the MoMA reopens today to the public after a $450 million renovation, there is sure to be even more noise about the additional 47,000-square-feet and the 1,000 additional pieces of art. What won’t be making noise are the droves of patrons sauntering through the museum, clanking up and down the steps, clamoring for the first look at “the new MoMA”. That’s because Cerami & Associates, the acoustic designers for MoMA, were brought in to build the architect’s acoustic vision and design the way art is heard.
“MoMA is the intersection of art, architecture and the technology of acoustical illusion.” said Victoria Cerami, Cerami & Associates CEO. “We designed the acoustics at MoMA, so the sound disappears, and the art and architecture can be fully realized.”
Upon entry, one is captured by the stunning Blade Stair, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the signature centerpiece connecting the old space to the new, cantilevered from a slender sheet of steel, and suspended like a mobile. A piece of artwork in itself, the stair creates a seamless acoustic connection from one gallery to the next carrying the visitors through the collections without interruption and praised by the Wall Street Journal architectural writer as “one of the most elegant acoustic measures I have ever seen.”
Aspirations for the space were achieved through a marriage of science and art. Cerami performed a series of detailed acoustical analysis to determine the optimum amount of acoustical absorption that would satisfy design objectives, landing on floor-to-ceiling wood-paneled walls, speckled with millions of barely detectable micro-perforations that absorb sound like a sponge – aligning the sound with the sleek beauty of the design.
At the heart of the new space is the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio, the worlds’ first dedicated space for performance, process and time-based art. Challenged with how to design the Studio to be impervious to NYC’s bustling 53rd Street and ensure its adaptability for an expansive variety of uses, Cerami brought this design challenge into their Immersive Studio to the MoMA creative team experience the experience before it was built. Through virtual simulations and numerous iterations, Cerami’s solution was a floating gallery with tilting walls, adjustable banners that can alter the acoustics, and an isolated secondary curtain wall engineered so guests will never know they are in midtown Manhattan. This silence is part of the gallery experience, art you can’t touch, but you can sense; a blank canvas to be transformed with each installation.
Cerami is proud to have contributed to the sensory experience of the new MoMA. For over 50 years, Cerami has provided signature buildings with their signature voice.
September 12, 2019
Team Cerami casted off at the New York Architects’ Regatta Challenge this past September. Despite the adverse weather, Team Cerami pulled through ranking second place right behind Bright Power at the Industry Partners Regatta! Moreover, the fundraiser achieved its goal of $200,000 donations, accumulating a total of $205,365! Congrats to all participants!
