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49-509: RFH may refer to: Royal Festival Hall , London, UK Royal Free Hospital , London, UK Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School , New Jersey, US Radio from Hell , a program in Salt Lake City, Utah, US Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title RFH . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

98-494: A cost of £2 million and officially opened on 3 May 1951 with a gala concert attended by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth , conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir Adrian Boult . The first general manager was T. E. Bean, who had previously managed the Hallé Orchestra . "I was overwhelmed by a shock of breathless delight at the originality and beauty of the interior. It felt as if I had been instantly transported far into

147-467: A hurried burglary, but none has a compromised sightline. The ceiling was wilfully sculptural, a conceit at the very edge of building technology and, as it turns out, way beyond the contemporary understanding of acoustics. Robin Day , who designed the furniture for the auditorium, used a clearly articulated structure in his designs of bent plywood and steel. The original building had lushly planted roof terraces;

196-541: A number of rich and varied ensembles which alone or in combination could equal the dynamic scale of any orchestra or choral grouping, in addition to coping with the entire solo repertoire. The design principles enshrined in its construction gave rise to a whole new school of organ building, known as the English Organ Reform Movement , influencing in the UK alone the cathedral organs of Coventry and Blackburn and

245-400: A single day easier, and to add to the flexibility of the venue. Theatre consultants Carr & Angier worked with ISG Interior Exterior and Stage Technologies to create a new working space over the stage area with four large movable lighting bridges, capable of load sharing to lift large touring productions without the need for custom rigging . Delstar Engineering supplied eleven lifts to form

294-491: A third of the organ was reinstalled. The remainder was reinstalled between 2012 and 2013, and voicing completed in 2014. The Festival Hall was one of the first concert halls in the world to be built using the application of scientific principles, both theoretical and experimental. Hope Bagenal and his colleagues from the Building Research Station formed an integral part of the design team. The acoustic behaviour of

343-824: Is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames , not far from Hungerford Bridge , in the London Borough of Lambeth . It is a Grade I listed building , the first post-war building to become so protected (in 1981). The London Philharmonic Orchestra , the Philharmonia Orchestra , the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment , the London Sinfonietta , Chineke! and Aurora are resident orchestras at Southbank Centre. The hall

392-753: The Southbank Centre , in April 1998. The complex includes several reception rooms, bars and restaurants, and the Clore Ballroom, accommodating up to 440 for a seated dinner. A large head and shoulders bust of Nelson Mandela (by Ian Walters , created in 1985) stands on the walkway between the hall and Hungerford Bridge approach viaduct. Originally made in glass-fibre it was repeatedly vandalised until re-cast in bronze. The complex's variety of open spaces and foyers are popular for social or work-related meetings. The closest tube stations are Waterloo and, across

441-640: The University of Dundee in 1961 – at the time the tallest structure in the city. RMJM were also closely involved with the Royal College of Science and Technology in Glasgow, developing its campus masterplan in the early 1960s when it received its Royal Charter to become the University of Strathclyde , designing the Colville Building in tandem with Frank Fielden's celebrated Architecture School in 1966. Later

490-471: The Festival Hall as a special project. A 1948 sketch by Martin shows the design of the concert hall as the egg in a box. But the strength of the design was the arrangement of interior space: the central staircase has a ceremonial feel and moves elegantly through the different levels of light and air. They were concerned that whilst the scale of the project demanded a monumental building, it should not ape

539-503: The Hall were relined to change their acoustic qualities and the undulating plaster ceiling panels were completely reconstructed using more robust materials to provide greater warmth of sound and support for bass frequencies. New adjustable acoustic canopies were placed over the stage's width to allow bass frequencies to resonate in the space above the stage, and for treble frequencies to be reflected back to improve feedback to performers. The stage

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588-658: The LCC's housing and town planning policy established an international reputation, and many housing schemes (including the famous Roehampton housing estate) were created, as well as many schools. In 1956 with Stirrat Johnson-Marshall , Robert Matthew established the firm of RMJM (Robert Matthew, Johnson Marshall) in Edinburgh and London. Their first project was New Zealand House in the Haymarket, London (now considered one of Matthew's key buildings). In 1953 he returned to Edinburgh to become

637-493: The Level Two foyer café had been able to spill out onto the terraces looking out on the river, and original entrances were positioned on the sides of the building, enabling visitors to arrive directly at the stairs leading to the auditorium. The foundation stone was laid in 1949 by Prime Minister Clement Attlee on the site of the former Lion Brewery, built in 1837. The building was constructed by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts at

686-637: The University's development plan for George Square, which ultimately resulted in the demolition of buildings on three sides of the square, and their replacement with modernist structures. Matthew/RMJM were directly responsible for the design of the Arts Faculty buildings, now called 40 George Square (formerly David Hume Tower), the Adam Ferguson building and the William Robertson Building. In

735-516: The airflow in the auditorium. During the 2000s a building comprising seven commercial units was erected opposite the western side of the hall, with many of the Southbank administrative offices above. Shops and restaurants were added along the river frontage. The venue officially reopened to the public in June 2007. The refurbishment was estimated to have cost in the region of £91 million. A film documenting

784-428: The authorities, after prolonged experiment, had become convinced that no improvement in the hall's reverberation could be achieved by any further treatment of its surfaces. Longer reverberation would require modification to the main structure, reducing the seating capacity and the provision of a new ceiling. This was considered too costly, particularly as any hypothetical gain in 'warmth' or 'resonance' might well be by

833-425: The building process. A specific problem for performers was the difficulty of hearing each other on the platform. Both the angled 'blast' side walls and the plywood reflectors projected sound away from the stage. The general consensus was that the hall was 'too dry', not reverberant enough, particularly at low frequencies, and that the bass tone was weak. The definition was 'excellent' for chamber and modern music, but

882-451: The building was bright white, intended to contrast with the blackened city surrounding it. Large areas of glass on its façade meant that light coursed freely throughout the interior, and at night, the glass let the light from inside flood out onto the river, in contrast to the darkness which befell the rest of London after dusk. The hall originally seated 2,901. The cantilevered boxes are often described as looking like drawers pulled out in

931-424: The building with its major attributes: the great sense of space that is opened out within the building, the flowing circulation from the symmetrically placed staircases and galleries that became known as the 'egg in the box'." The hall they built used modernism's favourite material, reinforced concrete, alongside more luxurious elements including beautiful woods and Derbyshire fossilised limestone. The exterior of

980-574: The concert hall organs of the Fairfield Halls , Croydon , and the Bridgewater Hall , Manchester : there are also innumerable organs in other countries which have been influenced by it. However, the design of the organ in its housing made maintenance difficult, and by 2000 it had become unusable. It was consequently completely removed before restoration of the Hall itself began in 2005, and after restoration and updating by Harrison & Harrison,

1029-489: The concert hall space was almost entirely intact until this re-modelling, which saw its stage canopy and walls rebuilt in plainer more rectangular forms. Seating was reduced slightly to 2,788, including the choir seating. This was carried out in the face of opposition from conservationists, led by the Twentieth Century Society . On the advice of acoustics firm, Kirkegaard Associates , the lack of reverberation and

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1078-439: The difficult performance conditions for musicians were corrected by changes in the fabric of the auditorium. Surfaces that had previously absorbed sound were transformed to support and sustain that sound. The tapestries on the back walls of the boxes were gathered up to increase reverberation, but can be redeployed, together with additional absorbent blinds above the stage and around the Hall whenever needed. The wooden wall panels of

1127-512: The early 1960s Matthew was involved in the replacement of overcrowded, insanitary tenement housing in Hutchesontown, Glasgow with high rise tower blocks. He worked alongside Basil Spence in the planning and design of the controversial Area C blocks in the Gorbals . Independently of Spence, RMJM designed the adjacent Area B estate which unlike the ill-fated Area C blocks, has survived and will become

1176-532: The first Professor of Architecture at the University of Edinburgh , where he established the new Department of Architecture in collaboration with RMJM, in a manner that has been compared to that of Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus . He continued as Professor there until 1968. The Matthew Architecture Gallery is now housed in the Department in his honour. Matthew was closely involved with Basil Spence and Alan Reiach in

1225-514: The future and that I was on another planet," said journalist Bernard Levin of his first impressions of the building. The 7,866 pipe organ was built during 1950–1954 by Harrison & Harrison in Durham , to the specification of the London County Council 's consultant, Ralph Downes , who also supervised the tonal finishing. It was designed as a well-balanced classical instrument embracing

1274-418: The hall was not as effective for music of the late Classical or Romantic period. Sir John Barbirolli commented, "Everything is sharp and clear and there is no impact, no fullness on the climaxes." A water source heat pump was used to heat the building in the winter and cool the building in the summer. Water was extracted from the River Thames below Hungerford Bridge using a centrifugal pump . Heat

1323-540: The importation of over 2,000 Swedish post-war prefabricated houses . In 1946 Matthew moved to London, becoming Chief Architect and Planning Officer to the London County Council , where he served from 1946 to 1953, working on the post-war reconstruction of Greater London and masterminding the Festival of Britain including such buildings as the Royal Festival Hall , 1951. It was during these formative postwar years that

1372-535: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RFH&oldid=984878906 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London , England. It

1421-406: The low frequencies which critics and musicians thought did not adequately reverberate in the hall. 172 channels were used to cover a frequency range of 58 Hz to 700 Hz, increasing reverberation time from 1.4 to 2.5 s in the 125 Hz octave band. However, the system never fully solved the problem, and as it aged it became unreliable, occasionally emitting odd sounds during performances. It

1470-575: The only surviving high rise blocks in the Gorbals. In Edinburgh he was also behind the Royal Commonwealth Pool , British Home Stores on Princes Street , Edinburgh Airport , Lothian Regional Council Building and Wester Hailes Education Centre. Elsewhere Matthew/RMJM were both involved in the design for various academic campuses – one of his earliest commissions was the Tower Building for

1519-534: The organ, the original organ builders, Harrison & Harrison , finally completed the reinstallation on 29 August 2013. Further work including re-balancing the pipework followed and was completed in time for the re-inauguration of the organ on 18 March 2014, exactly 60 years since it was first inaugurated. The first orchestral and organ concert was on 26 March 2014 and was recorded for the London Philharmonic Orchestra's own live label. The organ remains

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1568-569: The practice was involved with the University of Stirling and University of York . RMJM also contributed to Pakistan 's new capital buildings in Islamabad . During his studies Robert Matthew won the Pugin Student award (1929) and was Soane medallist (1932). He became a Fellow of the RIBA in 1955 and served as its President from 1962 to 1964. He was awarded an OBE in 1952 and knighted in 1962. He

1617-403: The refurbishment, entitled This Is Tomorrow , was directed by Paul Kelly and produced by Andrew Hinton. The organ has been reconfigured to suit the new architectural and acoustic requirements: its depth has been reduced by 110 cm, but the basic principles of the layout have been respected. Following a successful campaign to raise £2.3 million for a full restoration and reinstallation of

1666-413: The reverberation time by a system called 'assisted resonance' in which some of the acoustical energy lost to the surfaces of the hall was replaced by acoustical energy supplied by a loudspeaker. Each microphone and its associated loudspeaker was limited to the one frequency by placing the microphone inside a Helmholtz resonator fitted into the ceiling in a range of sizes which resonated over a wide range of

1715-571: The river via the Jubilee Bridges, Embankment and Charing Cross . The Festival Hall project was led by London County Council 's then chief architect, Robert Matthew , who gathered around him a young team of talented designers including Leslie Martin , who was eventually to lead the project with Edwin Williams and Peter Moro , along with the furniture designer Robin Day and his wife, the textile designer Lucienne Day . The acoustical consultant

1764-471: The sacrifice of other positive qualities for which the Hall was generally esteemed, for example, its clarity, its comparative uniformity of acoustic response and its freedom from echo. It was known that the ancient Greeks had developed the technique of using vases built into their auditoria which added resonance to strengthen tone or improve its quality, though the effect was very weak. The Building Research Station developed an electronic method of lengthening

1813-403: The seats was measured and tested in a laboratory to enable more exacting design. Careful consideration of external noise problems was undertaken. Following the opening of the hall, there was some criticism of certain aspects of the acoustics. This was partially attributable to the fact that some of the original specifications for room surfaces determined by the acoustic consultants were ignored in

1862-407: The stage platform. These allow the stage layout to be reconfigured in many ways to suit the nature of the performance taking place. The choir benches can now be wheeled out to provide a level floor for staged and dance performances. The space between seat rows has been extended by 75mm by rebuilding the concrete floor of the stalls, with a loss of only 118 seats. Cooling has been introduced by reversing

1911-471: The third largest organ in Great Britain by number of pipes, with 7,866 pipes and 103 speaking stops. . The organ sounds uncomfortably constrained in the hall acoustic and is seldom played, either for recitals or to accompany orchestral concerts. 51°30′21.01″N 00°07′00.44″W  /  51.5058361°N 0.1167889°W  / 51.5058361; -0.1167889 Robert Matthew Robert Matthew

1960-437: The triumphal classicism of many earlier public buildings. The wide open foyers, with bars and restaurants, were intended to be meeting places for all: there were to be no separate bars for different classes of patron. Because these public spaces were built around the auditorium, they also had the effect of insulating the Hall from the noise of the adjacent railway bridge. To quote Leslie Martin, "The suspended auditorium provides

2009-472: Was Hope Bagenal , working with members of the Building Research Station ; Henry Humphreys, Peter Parkin and William Allen. Martin was 39 at the time, and very taken with the Nordic activities of Alvar Aalto and Gunnar Asplund . The figure who really drove the project forward was Herbert Morrison , a Labour Party politician. It was he who had insisted that Matthew had Martin as his deputy architect, treating

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2058-531: Was apprenticed with his father's firm. Then in 1936, he joined the Department of Health for Scotland , as assistant to John Wilson , where, by 1945, he replaced Wilson as Chief Architect and Planning Officer. He was stranded in Sweden for VE Day . However he spent the time designing kits for prefabricated houses which conformed to the recommendations of the 1944 UK government report Planning our New Homes . This led to

2107-726: Was built as part of the Festival of Britain for London County Council , and was officially opened on 3 May 1951. When the LCC's successor, the Greater London Council , was abolished in 1986, the Festival Hall was taken over by the Arts Council , and managed together with the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room (opened 1967) and the Hayward Gallery (1968), eventually becoming an independent arts organisation, now known as

2156-405: Was extracted from the river water using a heat pump. The compressors were driven by two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, adapted to run on town gas . It was highly successful, providing both heating and cooling for the Hall, but over-sized, and was sold off after the Festival of Britain . As a structure, the new Festival Hall was technically stretched, and maintenance was soon required. The building

2205-435: Was much compromised by these changes and the later additions of raised concrete walkways around the building to serve the neighbouring Queen Elizabeth Hall , Purcell Room and The Hayward, built in 1967/8. Leo Beranek , an American acoustics engineer who had undertaken measurements of all of the world's leading concert halls , had identified that the interior treatment of the auditorium was absorbing too much sound. By 1962

2254-406: Was reconfigured to provide more space for performers, and the arrangement of walls around the stage was altered significantly. The original Robin Day designed seats were restored and reupholstered to make them more comfortable, and more acoustically appropriate. The major refurbishment presented an opportunity to add to the infrastructure of the venue to make the process of 'get-in' and 'get-out' in

2303-484: Was substantially altered in 1964 by adding the foyers and terraces to the river side of the building, extending the footprint by 30 ft, and more dressing rooms to the rear. Alterations to the façades overlooking the river removed the decorative tiles, altering the Scandinavian Modernism of the building's primary public face in favour of a plainer and hard-edged style. The building's original entrance sequence

2352-478: Was switched off in 1998, which returned the acoustics to their poor state, so bad that they make performers who play in it "lose the will to live", according to Sir Simon Rattle. The building underwent a substantial renovation between 2005 and 2007 aimed at improving the poor acoustics and building layout, led by architect Diane Haigh of Allies and Morrison with consulting engineer firms Max Fordham LLP (M&E) and Price & Myers (structural). The interior of

2401-992: Was the son of John Fraser Matthew (1875–1955) (also an architect, and the partner of Sir Robert Lorimer ) and his wife, Annie Broadfoot Hogg. From 1920 the family lived at 43 Minto Street ironically the epitome of Georgian classicism rather than modern architecture. Robert was born and brought up in Edinburgh , was educated at Edinburgh Institution and attended the Edinburgh College of Art where he studied under John Begg . In 1931 Matthew married Lorna Pilcher. They had three children: Robert Aidan Matthew, born in July 1936, Janet Frances Catriona Matthew, born in March 1939, and Jessie Ann Matthew born in June 1952. From 1939 they lived at 12 Darnaway Street, Edinburgh and from 1956 they lived at Keith Marischal House, Humbie , East Lothian. Robert

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