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