Acoustic discoveries of the Carinthian Gate theatre (Kärntnertortheater) of Vienna: on the trace of a lost artistical building heritage

Throughout history, many cultural heritage buildings of important value have been lost due to natural disasters aswell as human causes (e.g. fire, war destruction, change of use etc.). The needs to build a larger theatre, as occurredin Vienna, addressed the Carinthian Gate theatre to have different room functions, while currently is considered thehouse of Sacher cake at international level. This paper deals with the discovery of the acoustic response of one of themost important theatres of Vienna. The realization of a 3D model that reproduces the architectural features allows theauthors to perform acoustic simulations that reveal the sound environment that would be perceived by the audienceduring artistic performances at the end of eighteenth century in Vienna. In addition, the simulated results of the mainacoustic parameters have been compared with the values of other opera theatres provided with similar dimensions andarchitectural features, as already studied by the authors. The results indicate an overall acoustic response, as typical ofhorseshoe shape plan layout theatres with the values of clarity found very close or within the optimal range, the soundstrength ranging between 4 and 11 dB, and the reverberation time close to 1.5 s, in line with the criteria of opera theatrebased on the room volume of the main hall and finished materials applied to the surfaces of the 3D model.