Two daring contributions of Higini Arau-Puchades to Architectural Acoustics: La Scala’s floating floor and Liceu’s 3D-grid diffuser

The professional career of physicist Higini Arau-Puchades (Barcelona, 1946) has been characterised by his deep interest in the scientific objectivation of acoustic design parameters and his practical collaboration in the architectural design of concert halls. However, in some of his later proposals, he has been guided by his intuition of acoustic phenomena to design innovative solutions in the field of concert hall acoustics. In 2003, when Arau was commissioned by the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, he had just reconstructed the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona. Along with Alessandro Cocchi, he designed a floating floor package that was capable of reradiating sound to the spectators in the stalls when it was activated by the orchestra playing. A similar solution was then designed by Cocchi for the Teatro Nuovo in Spoleto (2003). When Arau had to remodel the rehearsal room of the Liceu in Barcelona (2007), which had shortcomings in the acoustics for the musicians, he proposed an innovative 3D-grid diffuser that significantly increased the acoustic perception of the room’s volume and was applied brilliantly in the Tonhalle St. Gallen in Switzerland (2010).