JaffeHolden Acoustics, Inc. is a consulting firm which delivers

Architectural Acoustics Architectural acoustics (also known as building acoustics) is the science and engineering of achieving a good sound within a building and is a branch of acoustical engineering. The first application of modern scientific methods to architectur ...

, Audio and Video Systems, and Information Technologies design services. Its clientele includes performance venues, houses of worship, educational institutions, museums, cruise ships, and legislative buildings.

About Jaffe Holden

History

In 1968, Jaffe Holden Acoustics was founded by acoustician Christopher Jaffe in Norwalk, Connecticut. The company first grew from Jaffe’s discovery that lightweight tunable reflector panels placed in the reverberant stage towers of multi-use theatres increased orchestral liveness, intimacy and warmth. Since these designs allowed acousticians to place overhead ceiling reflectors closer to the musicians, the shells improved on stage hearing to the benefit of orchestral ensemble and sectional balance. Some early challenges for JaffeHolden were designing a shell for the Youth Symphony concerts on the

South Lawn The South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., is directly south of the house and is bordered on the east by East Executive Drive and the Treasury Building, on the west by West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building, and ...

of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

sponsored by

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

; renovations of

Lewisohn Stadium Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater and athletic facility built on the campus of the City College of New York (CCNY). It opened in 1915 and was demolished in 1973. History The Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Conv ...

for the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

and the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...

for the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

; and the design for the first touring symphonic stage used by the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

for their innovative series of free parks concerts in 1965. Early in the company’s history, while working on a grant for the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, Jaffe realized that the elitist image of orchestral performance and the formal seating arrangement of the typical concert hall were actually reducing attendance at these events. Researching older halls such as the

Concertgebouw Concertgebouw may refer to one of the following concert halls: * Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium * Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Netherlands {{disambiguation Buildings and structures disambiguation pages ...

in Amsterdam, JaffeHolden designed the first surround concert hall in the Western hemisphere, Sala Nezahualcoyotl Hall in Mexico City. JaffeHolden also developed the use of electronic reflections to provide needed aural information in specialized circumstances where physical acoustic solutions alone could not meet the required symphonic criteria due to budget constraints, building landmark restrictions and/or operational flexibility. Also known as ERES (Electronic Reflected Energy System), these systems have been successfully implemented in theaters and halls throughout the United States. Jaffe and current CEO Mark Holden’s "Concert Hall Shaper"Cooper, Russell. Sound & Communications. ''Acoustic Compromises.'' June 2006 revolutionized multi-use theater design in providing mixed-use theaters with the level of acoustic parameters found in a dedicated concert hall. This was first utilized in the

Tokyo International Forum The is a multi-purpose exhibition center in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. The complex is generally considered to be in the Yūrakuchō business district, being adjacent to Yūrakuchō Station, but it is administratively in the Marunouchi district. Toky ...

, and subsequently at the

Bass Performance Hall The Bass Performance Hall (also known as Bass Hall) is a performing arts venue, located in Fort Worth, Texas. Overview The hall was first suggested by pianist Van Cliburn to philanthropist Nancy Lee Bass and her husband, Perry Richardson Bass. ...

in Fort Worth, Texas and the Thelma Gaylord Theater at the Oklahoma City Civic Center.

Recent Business

In 2008, Jaffe Holden Acoustics, Inc. expanded its consulting services to include information technology services. Services include the areas of telecommunications, data, voice and cable infrastructure and network technologies.

Current CEO

In 2005, Mark Holden became chairman of Jaffe Holden Acoustics, Inc. Educated at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

with a Bachelor of Science in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, Mr. Holden has authored numerous papers and columns for major trade publications. He has lectured at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

. He is a member of the National Council of Acoustical Consultants and was elected Fellow of the

Acoustical Society of America The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary org ...

in 2004.

Principals

*Mark Holden, FASA, CEO, Acoustics *Russell Cooper, Acoustics *Mark Reber, PE, Acoustics

Locations

Jaffe Holden Acoustics Inc. has two main office locations: *

Norwalk, CT Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The city, part of the New York Metropolitan Area, is the sixth-most populous city in Connecticut as of the 2020 census, with a population of 91,184. Norwalk is on the northern ...

(Headquarters) *

Houston, TX Houston ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat of Harris County, as well as the principal city of ...

Projects

Completed Projects

, Fort Worth, TX * Detroit Orchestra Hall, Detroit, MI *

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

Concert Hall and Opera House, Washington, DC *

McCaw Hall Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (often abbreviated to McCaw Hall) is a performing arts hall in Seattle, Washington. Located on the grounds of the Seattle Center and owned by the city of Seattle, McCaw Hall's two principal tenants are Seattle Opera and ...

, Seattle, WA *

Severance Hall Severance Hall, also known as Severance Music Center, is a concert hall in the University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, home to the Cleveland Orchestra. Opened in 1931 to give the orchestra a permanent home, the building is n ...

, Cleveland, OH *

, Tokyo, Japan *

Zankel Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by its n ...

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

, New York, NY *

Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and Philanthropy, philanthropist whose donations assis ...

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

, New York, NY *

Ford's Theatre Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in 1863. The theater is best known for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater box where ...

, Washington, DC *

Guild Hall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

, East Hampton, NY *Henry Miller Theater, New York, NY *

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, NY *Richmond Hill Theatre, Richmond Hill, ON *Virginia Performing Arts Center, Richmond, VA *Bethel Woods Museum, Bethel, NY *Broad Theatre, Santa Monica, CA *The Grand Theatre, Kingston, Ontario *

Kaufman Center Kaufman Music Center is a performing arts complex in New York City that houses Lucy Moses School, Special Music School, and Merkin Hall and the "Face the Music" program. Originally known as the Hebrew Arts School, it was founded in 1952 and is ...

, New York, NY *

Eisenhower Theater The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

, Washington, DC *

Long Center for the Performing Arts The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue located along Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin Texas. The Long Center is the permanent home of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Opera and Ballet Aust ...

, Austin, TX *

Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighborin ...

, Los Angeles, CA *New Albany Performing Arts Center, New Albany, OH *Sun Valley Pavilion, Sun Valley, ID

Notable Projects In Progress

As of 2013: *Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum, Los Angeles, CA *Museum of Westward Expansion inside the Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO *Federal Way Performing Arts Civic Center, Federal Way, WA *Utah Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City, UT

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffeholden American acoustical engineers Companies based in Fairfield County, Connecticut American companies established in 1968 Consulting firms established in 1968 Engineering consulting firms of the United States

About Jaffe Holden

History

Recent Business

Current CEO

Principals

Locations

Projects

Completed Projects

Notable Projects In Progress

See also

References