Frederick Russell Johnson (September 14, 1923 – August 7, 2007) was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and acoustical expert. Johnson was the founder of Artec Consultants Incorporated in 1970. Nicknamed the "guardian of the ear" by Jean Nouvel in 1998 and an "acoustic guru" by others, Johnson was best known for works that included technical designs for the

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center is a concert hall located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas ( USA). Ranked one of the world's greatest orchestra halls, it was designed by architect I.M. Pei and acoustician Russell Johnson's ...

in Dallas, Texas,

Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center in New York City. The organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center in October 2004. Wynton Marsalis is the artistic director and the leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orches ...

in New York,

New Jersey Performing Arts Center The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors (i ...

, Centre in the Square in Canada, Pikes Peak Center in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Canada and the

Kravis Center for the Performing Arts The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (often referred to as the Kravis Center) is a not-for-profit, professional performing arts center in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida. History 1978–1992 In 1978, the Palm Beach County Council of the Ar ...

in Florida. During his lifetime Johnson advanced the field of acoustic design and theater planning by developing adjustable sonic reflectors hanging from the ceiling of his halls to adjust sound depending upon the performer. The reflectors combined with a traditional shoebox shape design are considered trademarks of his firm. Since 1970 Artec has collaborated in the designs for some of the most renowned concert halls, opera houses, theatres, and other performance spaces of the 20th century and have created technical designs for over 21,000 projects worldwide including the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts,

Sala São Paulo The Júlio Prestes Cultural Center, which is located in the Júlio Prestes Train Station in the old north central section of the city of São Paulo, Brazil, was inaugurated on July 9, 1999. The building has been restored and renovated by the Sã ...

in Brazil,

Culture and Congress Center The Culture and Congress Centre in Lucerne (or KKL for ''Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern'') is a multi-functional building with a concert hall that is esteemed for its high-profile acoustics. It was built according to the plans of the archite ...

in Switzerland, the

and Symphony Hall in England. In 2004,

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

referred to Johnson as a "legendary" acoustician and his design of the acclaimed Esplanade complex—Theatres on the Bay (concert hall plus opera theatre) in Singapore as "one of the best anywhere". Johnson was published for decades in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

for his many

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that may ...

designs. He was also praised in many publications that included the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

Wired Magazine ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online magazine, online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquar ...

, Variety, and the

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Career

After Yale, Johnson entered the field of acoustics and theatre planning. From 1954 to 1970, he worked for Bolt, Beranek and Newman in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. The firm was the country's first large commercial acoustical consulting firm and was founded by physicists trained at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. He worked there as founder and principal consultant of the Theatre Consulting Division, and as technical coordinator for concert hall and opera house design, including acoustics. In 1970, Johnson decided to start his own firm, initially called 'Russell Johnson & Associates', and later renamed Artec Consultants Inc. Some of the early acclaimed facilities on which Johnson worked include the Orchestra Shell Renovation, Derngate Centre, Grand Theatre de Quebec,

Centennial Concert Hall Centennial Concert Hall is a 2305-seat performing arts centre located at 555 Main Street in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as part of the Manitoba Centennial Centre. The concert hall opened on March 25, 1968. It is the performing home of th ...

, Crouse-Hinds Concert Theater, Hamilton Place in Canada,

Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough Coun ...

, and Place des Arts. As chairman Johnson also led Artec on projects such as the

Harpa (concert hall) Harpa () is a concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavík, Iceland. The opening concert was held on May 4, 2011. The building features a distinctive colored glass facade inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland. History Harpa was desig ...

in Reykjavík, the

Winspear Centre The Francis Winspear Centre for Music is a performing arts centre located in the downtown core of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Opened in 1997, it is the home of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The centre is named after Francis G. Winspear, who don ...

in Edmonton,

Domaine Forget Le Domaine Forget de Charlevoix is an international Music Festival as well as a music and dance Academy located in Saint-Irénée, Charlevoix, in Quebec, in Canada. This domain is a operated by a non-profit organization occupying a large set of ...

in Charlevoix and acoustical upgrade of the Roy Thomson Hall. He also revolutionized the profession with adjustable acoustic equipment that could create different acoustic environments for different performance types. In addition, he studied the history of concert hall design and concluded that the best halls were built between about 1840 and 1905. After this time demand arose for concert halls that could serve multiple purposes, hosting symphonies as well as music theater, choral societies and lectures. Smaller auditoriums gave way to venues that could hold 3,000 to 4,000 people. These trends, Johnson believed, led to acoustical nightmares. Therefore, he persuaded many owners and architects to return to the basic shape and dimensions of beloved older halls like the

Musikverein The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, the

Amsterdam Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls i ...

and Symphony Hall in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

; all-of-which are shoebox-shaped and relatively small. Johnson's talents helped make him the go-to person for acoustic design and at time led to his having also worked in collaboration with some of great architects of the world including Cesar Pelli, Jean Nouvel,

I.M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

, Moshe Safdie,

Barton Myers Barton Myers (born November 6, 1934) is an American architect and president of Barton Myers Associates Inc. in Santa Barbara, California. With a career spanning more than 40 years, Myers is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and wa ...

, Bing Thom, Michael Wilford,

Eberhard Zeidler Eberhard Zeidler may refer to: * Eberhard Zeidler (architect), Eberhard Heinrich Zeidler (1926–2022), German-Canadian architect * Eberhard Zeidler (mathematician), Eberhard Hermann Erich Zeidler (1940–2016), German mathematician {{hndis, Zeidl ...

, Fred Lebensold, Sir James Stirling, Robert Venturi, and

Rafael Viñoly Rafael Viñoly Beceiro (born 1944) is a Uruguayan architect. He is the principal of Rafael Viñoly Architects, which he founded in 1983. The firm has offices in New York City, Palo Alto, London, Manchester, Abu Dhabi, and Buenos Aires. Viñ ...

. Projects The following is a list of well known concert halls and projects Johnson created: * The Palladium, Carmel, Indiana USA * Orchestra Shell Renovation * Derngate Centre * Grand Theatre de Quebec *

* Crouse-Hinds Concert Theater * Hamilton Place in Canada *

* Place des Arts in Montréal, Canada. *

in New York *

* Centre in the Square in Canada * Pikes Peak Center in

* Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Canada, along with Bing Thom. *

in Florida. * Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami with Cesar Pelli. * Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia *

, Brazil *

, Lucerne, Switzerland *

, Dallas, with

I.M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

* Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England * Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay—Theatres on the Bay, Singapore * Roy Thomson Hall renovation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada *

Fox Cities Performing Arts Center The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, also called the PAC, is a performing arts center in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. The Center is the home of the Broadway Across America – Fox Cities series, the Boldt Arts Alive! series, the Thrivent ...

, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA *

Orange County Performing Arts Center Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower * Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...

in Costa Mesa One of the last halls masterminded by the Johnson was the

César Pelli César Pelli (October 12, 1926 – July 19, 2019) was an Argentine-American architect who designed some of the world's tallest buildings and other major urban landmarks. Two of his most notable buildings are the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur a ...

-designed Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa.

Honours

Johnson was the recipient of several prestigious honours: *

United States Institute for Theatre Technology The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) is a membership organization which aims to advance the skills and knowledge of theatre, entertainment and performing arts professionals involved in the areas of theatrical design, design, ...

Award (for lifelong commitment to excellence in architectural acoustics and theatre planning for performing arts spaces), 1996 *

Wallace Clement Sabine Medal The Wallace Clement Sabine Medal of the Acoustical Society of America is presented to an individual of any nationality who has advanced the science of architectural acoustics, either by being published in professional journals or periodicals, or b ...

from 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 orga ...

in recognition of his lifetime contribution to advancing the knowledge of architectural acoustics, 1997 * the International Citation of Merit from the International Society of Performing Arts, 1998

Death

On August 9, 2007, Johnson died in his New York City apartment. A funeral service was held in Berwick, Pennsylvania on August 18. A Memorial service was held in The Allen Room,

Frederick P. Rose Frederick Phineas Rose (1923–1999) was an American real estate developer, philanthropist, and member of the Rose family. Biography Rose was born in Brooklyn

Hall, Home of

, New York City on November 7, 2007.

References

External links

(memorial website)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Russell 1920 births 20th-century American architects 2007 deaths