Byron Harrison

Managing Director/Partner - Acoustics

Byron is the leader of our global acoustics practice, incorporating room acoustics, sound separation, and noise and vibration design.

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Byron Harrison premiered the acoustics practice at Charcoalblue as a solo practitioner in 2010. Under his design direction and leadership, the firm now has twelve full-time acousticians. He was welcomed in the Charcoalblue partnership in 2017.

As a specialist in the technical coordination and delivery of complex schemes for performing arts buildings, Byron has experience in the detailed analysis and detailing of sound separation between critical spaces, including coordination with building structures to achieve cost-effective and buildable solutions to acoustic challenges. He has delivered many schemes with low background noise due to building systems, demanding accurate prediction of noise levels to meeting design criteria efficiently and without over-design.

Byron has been principal acoustics designer on Charcoalblue projects such as St Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn, the theatre and chamber opera venue at Chateau d’Hardelot in France, the 1,100-seat Energy Hall in Astana, Kazakhstan, and the Wharf Renewal project for Sydney Theatre Company. Other completed projects include The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, Bristol Old Vic Studio Theatre and Foyer, and the Waterfront Theatre for the Esplanade, Singapore. He was one of the lead designers of the Waikato Regional Theatre in Hamilton, New Zealand which is currently in construction. Currently, he is leading Charcoalblue's work for the Renewal project for the Barbican Centre, London.

He is the Acoustics Advisor to St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

“Byron Harrison is brilliant! We couldn’t be more pleased with his work and the manner in which he interacts with all of the players….”

David Hawkanson, Executive Director, Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Byron is a gifted orchestral trombonist.

Byron founded the acoustics practice at Charcoalblue in 2010.

Byron tours the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp.

Byron began his career with Talaske │Sound Thinking. He was integral to the delivery of major projects, including the 1,100-seat concert hall at Goshen College and the Jay Pritzker Music Pavilions for the Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra and Chorus. Byron developed and delivered the design concept for a new orchestra shell for the de Jong Concert Hall at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and was the lead acoustician for the Walgreen Drama Center for the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at the University of Michigan.

Byron is an orchestral trombonist, playing with London-based ensembles.

Byron visits the Astana World Expo in 2017.

Byron and his partner Brian at our 10th birthday party at the National Theatre in 2014.

Byron with some of the Acoustics team in April 2018.

Byron joined the partnership in 2017.

What's the greatest lesson you've learnt as a designer?

The relationships of the people involved, unanimity of purpose, and broad appreciation and patience for the design process are the three most important elements for great buildings.

What first sparked your interest in acoustics?

Between being in marching band and in the choir at the Ohio State Fair, much of my own music making growing up was outside! Those experiences helped me develop an appreciation for what the room provided me as a musician. And as a young pianist, I learned to modify my playing to suit the instrument and the space.

What qualities should a 'great performance space' have?

Not to diminish the subtlety we aspire to in acoustic design, but I always come back to the basic requirement for loudness. Our sense of intimacy for drama and our satisfaction of having been really moved by music is all contingent on the performance being simply loud enough. It's for this reason we spend so much effort making spaces both quiet and the right size.

You’re often travelling to far flung places to hear concerts. Do you have a favourite hall?

Getting to know a hall is like getting to know a person, you need time and many different scenarios to figure out if you’re really compatible! I do have favourite specific listening experiences. Hearing Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra in Suntory Hall in Tokyo, sitting uncharacteristically close to the orchestra, was absolutely electric. And, it’s not a hall that people rave about, but hearing Brucker’s Symphony No 5 from the very middle of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall was unforgettable.