The Gold Coast Aquatic Centre project involved the creations of a new swimming complex with a capacity of 10,000 seated spectators. The stadium will be used for the Pan-Pacific Games in 2014 and the Commonwealth Games in April 2018.
The WGE acoustic team was involved in the design of the new swimming complex from the concept design stage until the construction stage.
When looking at the acoustics design of the project there were two main issues:
- Designing the building in order to prevent from environmental noise impacts during events on the nearest residential areas.
- Ensuring that the design is robust enough to account for two completely different scenarios, i.e. the legacy mode and the actual Games modes on. The main difference of these situations is the amount of public attending the events ranging from 1,000 to 10,000, with the acoustic complications that this difference represents.
The WGE solution:
- WGE worked with the architect on the planning of the sports complex to ensure that during major events the amenity of the surrounding residents was protected. They defined the main stands access and the location of the stands and roof structure in order to control noise from the crowd.
- WGE dealt with the mechanical and swimming pool specialist to deliver acoustic solutions customised for this project including a tailor made acoustic wall.
