Education

M. Architecture 1964, Harvard Graduate School of Design. A.B. cum laude, 1960, Harvard College

Courses in acoustics and architectural lighting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1964

Experience

Mr. Kirkegaard has consulted on a significant number of the world’s performing arts facilities designed or renovated over the past forty years. He has been a pioneering figure in the field of architectural acoustics, helping to redefine the relationship between music and architecture – achievements recognized by the Acoustical Society of America, American Institute of Architects, United States Institute for Theatre Technology, and conductors and musicians around the world. His liberal arts background, musical interests, architectural training and extensive construction experience provide a comprehensive basis for his consulting practice; a philosophy of approach that has defined the relationship between the firm and its clients since 1976.

Mr. Kirkegaard’s background, combined with deep personal interests in music, art and drama, provides a sensitivity to the complex functional relationships and program requirements of concert and recital halls, theatres, opera houses, and multipurpose auditoria. With his consulting and lecturing activities he has traveled extensively throughout the world to constantly investigate new developments in the fields of music and architecture. These travels have included a study/research tour of North German and Dutch organs in 1983 and extended study/research tours of European, Asian and North American concert halls with the San Francisco Symphony during their 1987 and 1988 tours. He accompanied the Chicago Symphony during its 1994 European tour, and the Pittsburgh Symphony during its 2000 European Tour.

Before founding his own acoustics consulting firm, Mr. Kirkegaard joined Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc., in their Cambridge office and later became Regional Manager of their Chicago office and Supervisory Consultant in charge of the architectural acoustics and theatre consulting groups.

Professional Membership

Fellow, Acoustical Society of America; Honorary Membership, American Institute of Architects; Member, United States Institute of Theatre Technology, Audio Engineering Society, International Society for the Performing Arts, American Symphony Orchestra League, and League of Historic American Theatres. He has served on Harvard Graduate School of Design Alumni Council, Design Arts Challenge Grant Panel of the National Endowment of the Arts, the Building by Design Panel of the Illinois Arts Council, and the Advisory Board of the Denver Recording and Research Center.

Research

Mr. Kirkegaard has contributed articles to Symphony and American Organist magazines, the Charles B. Fisk Memorial Essays, as well as to Izenour's Theatre Design; he has collaborated on articles in Architecture, Architectural Record, Architectural Forum, Form and Function, Nation's Schools, and Building Construction magazines; and helped to prepare MENC'S publication Planning and Equipping Educational Music Facilities.

He has lectured internationally before a wide variety of groups including the International Congress on Acoustics, the Acoustical Society of Iran (Tehran, Iran), the Mid-East Technical University School of Architecture (Ankara, Turkey), the Acoustical Society of Japan, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, the League of Historic American Theatres, the U.S. Institute of Theatre Technology, the Illinois Theatre Association, the Music Educators' National Conference, the Construction Specifications Writers' Institute, and the Architectural Schools at Harvard, UCLA, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.