Laidlaw Music Centre

A MOVEABLE RECITAL ROOM FLOOR - A WORLD FIRST

Junckers solid hardwood flooring has been installed in a stateof-the-art recital room at the Laidlaw Music Centre, University of St Andrews. The McPherson recital room is one of the world’s first chamber halls with a moveable floor – an impressive space which can be configured for a variety of performance requirements, from symphony orchestra to chamber music recitals, at the push of a button.

The entire stage was built off-site by specialist company Centre Stage in collaboration with Graham Construction. The moveable stage and the surrounding floor in the recital room has been fitted with Junckers 22mm Oak Harmony two-strip flooring, an expressive, warm-hued floor, providing a hard-wearing flooring surface which is not only beautiful but also contributes to the excellent acoustics in the room. The oak-lined recital room is the world’s first chamber hall with a reverberation chamber, allowing the hall to be tuned from nearly four seconds for organ and choir work down to less than a second.

The room is large enough for a symphony orchestra to rehearse and for chamber music performances with an audience of up to 250 people. The floor of the hall incorporates a grid of mechanised lifts which allow an infinite variety of configurations - another world first.

The Laidlaw Music Centre by Flanagan Lawrence is a new building which sits at the heart of the University’s historic site. The contemporary design harmonises with the listed buildings and century-old arboretum, providing a facility wholly dedicated to music in the University’s 600-year history. It has three large sectional rehearsal spaces, ten individual practice rooms, a recording studio and amplified music suite open to the community as well as the University.

The flooring contractor was Junckers Approved Contractor McGarry Flooring.

Photography: Paul Zanre