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The Greenbusch Group, Inc.

1900 W. Nickerson St., Ste. 201
P) 206.378.0569

Acoustical Consulting, Audio/Video System Design
Mechanical Engineering, Vertical Transportation & Commissioning

There is no written history of the Tlingit people. Throughout time, Tlingit culture has been passed from generation to generation through songs, dance and stories. The Community House was designed as a place for the gathering of the Tlingit community. A link with the past, to preserve traditional Native culture through songs, dance and language. The songs and stories are tightly held by each clan within the tribe. They hold the clan history and are not to be told by those outside the clan, without permission.

Greenbusch was involved in the acoustical design of the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi (The Community House) which was designed as the cultural focus for the surrounding area to "encourage, guard and foster the traditional Tlingit practices of the Sitka Native people, including the protection of the language, songs, dance arts and artifacts."

Built as a traditional Tlingit Longhouse, the facility provides a place for the native singers, dancers and storytellers to perform. The primary design criterion was to maintain a high degree of intimacy and immediacy between performers and audience.

The performance hall itself is rectilinear in shape with a stage at one end and seating for 250 which wraps around an open firepit in the center of the room. The roof is open above the firepit to draw smoke from the room. The seating is steeply raked to provide good sightlines. Since Tlingit dance is basically linear in form, a narrow proscenium type stage was provided, augmented by the firepit stage at the center of the audience for the climatic moments of a solo dancer. This center location is also used exclusively for the Story-telling. A sound reinforcement system was provided, but most of the Native performances are unamplified.

Finishes were selected to be consistent with traditional Longhouse materials. Split cedar poles provide some of the structural support and wall and ceiling surfaces are exposed, rough-sawn cedar planks. Absorption was considered for both wall and ceiling surfaces, but rejected as "non-traditional" materials. To soften the effect of the hard wall surfaces, the cedar wall planks were staggered at varying depths to provide diffusion. It was agreed that Native weavings could be added for intimate dramatic productions if the space proved too live. The occupied reverberation time of the Hall has a mid-range time of 1.5 seconds. Since the story telling has a rhythmic presentation, the slightly reverberant space works well for both the music and the story telling.

The facility has been well received by the Native Community. It also serves more than 200,000 visitors a year, who are now able to share in the heritage of the Sitka people.

Acoustician: Julie Wiebusch

Audio/Video Design:  Julie Wiebusch