A specialist music acoustic consultant from the USA, Kirkegaarde Associates, has been appointed to the project. The biggest hurdles with this site are reducing vibration from the two railway tunnels, and the high and low frequency noises generated by air-conditioning. Musical instruments must also be protected from changes in humidity and temperature. The other buildings have been raised on vibration-absorbing pads. Each room consists of a series of stud-framed walls with a 50 mm cavity and raised on a waffle isolation pad, within a concrete block box.
Internal finishes are plasterboard walls, acoustic tile ceiling and timber floor.
Each room is fitted with a fan coil cooling unit, which according to the DPWS, is cheaper than an air system, because it can be turned on and off at will. All services enter through the ceiling of the room and all pipes for sprinklers, and hot and cold water are sealed, as are the air ducts. High frequency noise from air-conditioning has been reduced by low velocity air movement and the ducts being cut into rock. A central chiller plant with three chillers circulates water for cooling throughout the complex. The cooling tower is sealed so that it does not send off plumes of steam.