On January 29, 2021, the International Architecture Acoustic Design Competition of 2020, sponsored by the Acoustical Society of America and Robert Bradford Newman Foundation, announced the results of the event. The works, Stroll·City Symphony, of Zhou Chao, Yang Lu and Feng Qian, three postgraduate students of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Chongqing University, wins the honor of Commendation. Professor Xie Hui and Dr. Liu Chang are supervisors of the works. This is the second time that the achievements related to soundscape design course offered by the School have won the international awards.

The topic of the Competition is the design for an outdoor theater of orchestra in a city. In addition to meeting the needs of performances put on at the theater in different seasons, including orchestra, opera, drama, ballet, rock and roll and jazz band, the design should also include 5,000 fixed seats (with ceiling) and an outdoor grassed audience area that is able to accommodate 20,000 people. There is elevation difference within the project area, and there will be noise from an interstate highway 200 feet on the east of the field. One of the focuses of the design includes the architectural acoustic design and public address system within the theater.

The review of works was carried out at the 179th Meeting of ASA held in December 2020. Review experts included well-known architectural designers and acoustic consultants from all over the world. Eventually, 1 first honor and 3 commendations were granted. The first honor went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the other two commendations went to University of Nebraska and Chalmers University of Technology.

The scheme proposed by CQU students includes an integrated soundscape design of the outdoor theater of orchestra and its surrounding areas. The site design focuses on the healing effect of the soundscape. A continuous corridor is adopted to connect various soundscape nodes that span across the bustling city to the interior of the theater. Each node is designed with soundscape sequence of different topics using the topic sound effect and the symphonies. In addition, with the varying spatial dimensions, behavior mode settings and device interaction experience at different nodes, a space that offers a distinct experience and atmosphere is created. The integrated sound healing path is established to lead the visitors out of the hustle of the city and into the inner peace.

The integrated design of the theater is adopted to fit the conditions of the site. The view of the river on the north side of the site is fully utilized. The structure system of arch steel frame and suspension cable, covered with high transparent film, is adopted for the overall structure, with a vivid and energetic look and desirable indoor and outdoor interaction. In terms of acoustic design, full consideration is given to the acoustic environment, auxiliary room, stage acoustic design and overall sound reinforcement system layout, so as to create a satisfactory acoustic effect for the theater. The sound field inside the theater is analyzed and optimized through professional software simulation. For the outdoor theater, strategies such as variable reverberation are adopted to control the noise of the site and the equipment, and meet the acoustic requirements for multi-functional performance.

The annual Competition has been held for 20 years and is organized to encourage students to apply the architectural acoustics and noise control theory to architectural design. The commendation granted to CQU students this time has further consolidated the international influence of CQU in the area of architectural acoustics and soundscape design.