Finnforest Kerto to concert hall at the Mariinsky Theatre

03/05/2007

Finnforest has delivered a timber concert hall to precise acoustic
requirements. The prestigious Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia, is
home to the Kirov Orchestra. The project to refurbish the theatre is the
culmination of shared expertise by some of the world's leading advisors in the
field of concert facility and theatre design, acoustics and engineering. 

Fabre Speller Pumain Architects from Paris designed the new theatre building,
which is based around the traditional ‘shoe box' form of a typical concert
hall, to be constructed in precast concrete. The interior of the structure is
clad entirely in 20 cm thick Finnforest Kerto®,  laminated veneer lumber,
covered with birch plywood. 

Timber was selected for the internal cladding of the concert hall at the
Mariinsky Theatre by the artistic director of the theatre, Valerie Gergiev, who
was inspired by the acoustic performance of the wooden concert halls of Lahti
and Savonlinna in Finland. Both Finnish projects used Finnforest's timber
products and Finnforest's engineering and design expertise. 

Working closely with the world-leading acoustic planner, Yasuahisa Toyota of
Nagata Acoustics in Los Angeles, Finnforest designed and supplied  600m³ of
Kerto to be applied to the inner walls and ceiling of the concrete theatre
structure. The challenge facing Finnforest was to produce an inner cladding
that would enhance, not compromise the acoustic performance of the hall, with
no gaps or open joints. 

Acoustic designer, Dr Toyota, said: “From an acoustical perspective the
ubiquitous use of wood in the hall interior created a challenge for us to
obtain the requisite surface mass. In particular for the ceiling's wood
material we resolved this by specifying a thickness of as much as 20cm.” 

Finnforest Kerto is a high technology wood product for advanced engineering and
demanding architectural solutions. It is produced from 3mm thick, rotary-peeled
softwood veneers that are glued together to form a continuous billet. The
billet is then hot pressed and cut to size to make beams, planks, posts or
panels, which are then used as such or processed into a variety of products. 

Kerto was further processed by Finnforest Merk, specialised in demanding wooden
constructions, located in Aichach, Germany. 

For further information and inspiration on the design capabilities of timber,
visit www.finnforest.com