Kirkegaard strengthens the human connection through sound and visual design, across the country and around the world!
At Kirkegaard, we believe collaboration, care, and a variation of viewpoints result in an inclusive environment enjoyed by all. Our staff has many talents, bringing the synergy for such interactions to the team. With well-versed backgrounds in architecture, engineering, physics, theater arts, technical design, audio production, information technology, application development, interactive media, marketing, and finance, our employee’s diversity shines in a multitude of ways.
Since its inception in 1976, Kirkegaard continues to evolve. R. Lawrence“Larry” Kirkegaard was a pioneering figure in the field of architectural acoustics and helped redefine the relationship between music and architecture. Today, we strive to explore and create new experiences at the intersection of sound, video, and architecture. We have expanded and strengthened our practice to provide audiovisual systems design services that are current with the latest trends. Our team and teamwork are integral to this future-thinking direction for Kirkegaard. We have taken the focus from one voice to a leadership team supporting and showcasing the entirety of our talented staff.
At our core, we at Kirkegaard aspire for excellence in the arts, higher education, civic, and commercial projects we serve. We use our vast experience and judgment to navigate the complex functional relationships and program requirements of complicated building types, striving to make each project better than the last.
We’ve had the great fortune to collaborate with many amazing owners, facility operator sites, artists, architects, engineers, theater consultants, contractors, and estimators. As we celebrate 50 plus years in operation, we not only consider the legacy of the firm but who we are today as we plan our company’s future.
The timeline below displays a selection of our successful work and milestones over the years.
R. Lawrence Kirkegaard and Associates offering services in Architectural Acoustics. This is who we are today.
This elegant concert hall – the first in Malaysia – conceals a concrete ceiling that can raise or lower 25’, transforming its acoustics.
This love letter to the glamor of European opera houses helped set a new paradigm for performance spaces that has lasted for decades.
This varied collection of theaters have developed and changed over the years, building on a solid acoustic foundation.
The Logan Center deliberately interweaves its spaces for music, theater, film and dance, plus maker spaces and versatile classrooms, so students can encounter something new every time they visit the building.
This handsome addition is the culmination of two decades’ work with MSU’s College of Music. It fills in what they lacked, and repurposes old facilities to serve them effectively.
The Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts houses highly flexible, multipurpose performing and teaching spaces.
The building’s goal is to enable innovation between the arts and the healing arts.
This comprehensive project encompasses both a major addition and targeted improvements to the existing structure.
TCT is renovating the Emery Theatre, where they originally performed from 1949 to 1969, as their new home.
FIFTH DECADE
This trio of rooms for rehearsal, presentation, and performance allow Tanglewood to present intimate performances in beautiful spaces that nod to the historic Tanglewood ethos while looking to the future.
We helped map out a comprehensive plan for the UNT College of Music’s many buildings. First steps have included the transformation of the choral rehearsal room, the 140-seat recital hall, and the technology-packed Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater.
This handsome addition is the culmination of two decades’ work with MSU’s College of Music. It fills in what they lacked, and repurposes old facilities to serve them effectively.
New student housing on busy Van Ness Avenue also supports jazz and commercial music programs. Two recital spaces with glass on three walls, sound as beautiful as they look.
The Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts houses highly flexible, multipurpose performing and teaching spaces.
Radio broadcast studios, digital film screening, and multipurpose spaces.
The building’s goal is to enable innovation between the arts and the healing arts.
TCT is renovating the Emery Theatre, where they originally performed from 1949 to 1969, as their new home.
FOURTH DECADE
RPI wanted a unique building to foster experimentation in the arts. Custom diffusive panels and the concert hall’s Nomex canvas ceiling are critical to meeting those goals.
A beautiful marriage of architecture and acoustics an engaging recital hall with a view to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Logan Center deliberately interweaves its spaces for music, theater, film and dance, plus maker spaces and versatile classrooms, so students can encounter something new every time they visit the building.
Three beautiful performance spaces as anchors – a choral/recital hall, an opera black box theater, and a stunning recital hall – plus dozens of gracious teaching studios, classrooms and practice rooms.
A multi-purpose hall embracing the full range of performances from symphony to comedians with every use sounding like what the room was built for.
THIRD DECADE
This elegant concert hall – the first in Malaysia – conceals a concrete ceiling that can raise or lower 25’, transforming its acoustics.
A pioneering example of a flat-floor space used for rehearsal, education, performance and recording, successfully inserted in the derelict shell of a 17th century church.
This project has everything – new and renovated theaters, rehearsal and reception rooms, art galleries – even a pipe organ integrated into a 50’-tall movable orchestra shell.
The Baltimore Symphony’s second home has retractable orchestra risers, a computer-controlled canopy, stage lifts, and pivoting stage walls so it can present dance and popular music as well.
Cast plaster tiles subtly mellow the high frequency sound, and felt banners adjust the reflections to serve the full range of modern performances.
SECOND DECADE
This ambitious building new facility for a great school includes a beloved concert hall and a spectacular organ recital hall, all achieved within a remarkably tight budget.
Creating a hall that’s great for symphony, opera, touring Broadway, AND popular music is a wonderful challenge, especially on a tight urban site.
We were hired to fix this room just six years after it opened – and we did! Measurements taken on the SFO’s tour through the great halls of Europe were an invaluable guide for our changes to the room.
What do you do when an architect dreams up a worship space inspired by a chambered nautilus, and the client loves the idea? You run with it and make it work!
A classic ‘shoebox’ form with an innovative rear wall that opens to lawn seating; a sound system transfers the hall’s sound to audience on the lawn.
FIRST DECADE
R. Lawrence Kirkegaard and Associates offering services in Architectural Acoustics. This is who we are today.
More than 40 years later this remains the well-loved home for the Bienen School of Music’s largest ensembles and a host of other performances.
This love letter to the glamor of European opera houses helped set a new paradigm for performance spaces that has lasted for decades.
This varied collection of theaters have developed and changed over the years, building on a solid acoustic foundation.
The first of Kirkegaard’s music buildings, setting a path in which we have flourished.
Beautiful new theaters in different sizes and types, coupled with the renovation of a movie palace offers something for everyone.
ATLANTA
(678) 325-6322
3500 Lenox Rd NE,
Suite 1500
Atlanta, GA 30326
CHICAGO
(312) 441-1980
320 W. Ohio St. Suite 3W, Chicago, IL 60654
HOUSTON
(832) 975-8850
11011 Richmond Ave., Suite 865, Houston, TX 77042
ST. LOUIS
(314) 896-2511
2 CityPlace Drive, 2nd Floor, St. Louis, MO 63141