SonaSpray gives clarity to speech & live music in Hard Rock Hotel, London

Turning it up to 11

The Hard Rock brand is synonymous with rock music and the stars who made it famous. The new Hard Rock Hotel in London is no exception, with an incredible memorabilia collection paying tribute to former residents such as Jimi Hendrix, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan and Buddy Holly. The raucous lifestyle these musical icons pursued will live on as the hotel doubles as a live music venue. With this in mind, architectural practice Scott Brownrigg, knew it would need a premium acoustic product, and turned to Oscar Acoustics.

The brief was to renovate the public areas of the Marble Arch hotel, which included opening out the entire ground floor, to create a welcoming space for arriving guests. 

The lobby, reception, GMT bar cocktail bar, Hard Rock Café, shop and lounge were all part of this, creating the perfect atmosphere for recreation. The challenge of opening up the space, is that while removing walls suits certain aesthetic sensibilities, it also removes a room’s acoustic barriers. This can cause noise to reverberate the now-cavernous area.

The challenge

The question posed to the architects was how to keep background noise in check to provide a lively buzz for guests without becoming cacophonous? Getting the acoustic balance right is crucial in a building that holds both live bands and sleeping guests. Scott Brownrigg have worked with Oscar Acoustics on previous projects so knew their products and what would work for the situation.

The solution

A mixture of Oscar’s SonaSpray fc and SonaSpray fcx was specified throughout the bar and café areas, providing a seamless and decorative solution. The spray absorbs excessive noise, creating a pleasant ambience by giving clarity to speech and music, transforming what would otherwise have been an incessant din.

The trowelled, seamless, SonaSpray fcx finish also made sure the acoustic treatment would not intrude on the overall design, and instead blended into the background. In line with Hard Rock’s signature style, the GMT bar used the idea of a 70s record player as inspiration, where the vinyl is held aloft and then drops into place. To accommodate this design choice, SonaSpray fc was applied in black.

The results - superb hotel acoustics

“Our experience over the years teaches us that architecture and interior design are so much more than just looks. We consider every factor with each project we work on, and acoustics is no exception. We knew we needed a premium acoustic product that would also work with our designs, which is why we chose Oscar Acoustics.”

David Mason, director, Scott Brownrigg 

Ben Hancock, managing director, Oscar Acoustics comments, “This was such a wonderful opportunity to work with a world-famous brand on a brilliantly innovative and creative project. It’s always great to see a practice taking acoustics into account right from the start. Too often design is entirely focused on aesthetics, with noise taking a back seat. Thankfully this was not the case and Scott Brownrigg have skilfully designed an acoustically comfortable space perfect for live music, retaining its atmospheric buzz”.