Solving the Acoustic Problem in Polyvalent Hall at Mauritius: Global Design Challenge Facing Larsen and Toubro, Limited

The architect for the Mauritius Auditorium project sat in his office at Larsen & Toubro's headquarters in Chennai, India, pondering the phone call he had just received from the vice president, Mr. K.P. Raghavan. The polyvalent hall of the conference center was about to be used to host its first rock concert in February 2005, but during a rehearsal the musicians complained about the sound quality being not up to expectations in the hall. Sound quality had not been an issue during the U.N. convention, but the louder music was causing problems, and a representative from Chuttur & Partners Limited, the company which managed the conference center, had called Larsen & Toubro wanting to know how to solve the problem. There had been no specific sound requirements when the center was conceived, and Larsen & Toubro was under no legal obligation to solve the acoustic problem. Therefore, a decision had to be made as to whether the company would work to solve the acoustic problem, and if so, how the problem could be solved. (Contains 4 figures, 1 table, and 4 endnotes.)