ABSTRACT
This arts centre in Carshalton, London (shown in Figure 14.1), started with a brief for a low maintenance, environmentally friendly design and a specific requirement to provide comfort cooling to the theatre. To achieve an acoustic performance of NR25 (Appendix C) within the theatre space, external noise from the adjacent busy main road had to be excluded and the proximity of local housing meant that performance sound had to be kept in at night. The combination of an acoustically airtight theatre, 250 people and stage lighting heat gains, made ventilation and cooling essential. A range of options was considered including natural and mechanical ventilation, remote-sited air condenser and various water-based cooling alternatives. The restricted space in the listed building envelope did not allow suitable plantroom space either inside or outside the building for a traditional air-condenser system. Acoustic enclosures around such a system would have required a total volume of 20-30 m.3
