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The La Jolla Playhouse’s Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theater uses a custom brick wall whose changing curves and nine-foot lean were designed to keep outdoor sound from reaching the black-box performance space. RoTo Architects shaped the wall with corbelling, making it curve inward and then outward so sound waves would be redirected in multiple directions instead of reflecting toward the theater’s main wall. The project team also chose brick for its mass, which principal Michael Rotondi said would damp vibration and reduce the need for additional sound-absorbing material. Those are design intentions reported for the project, not a published decibel reduction or independent acoustic test result.
The wall is a construction and acoustics case study rather than a ready-made soundproofing product. Its performance depends on the complete building, the surrounding site and the way the masonry, structure and room enclosure work together.
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How did a curved brick wall help keep sound out of the theater?
The wall combines two strategies: geometry that redirects reflected sound and heavy masonry that resists vibration. Instead of presenting a flat vertical surface aimed at the theater, the brickwork curves first inward and then outward, forming a parabolic profile and leaning as much as nine feet out of plumb. The design team said this shape would bounce sound in several directions rather than back toward the theater’s principal wall.
Brick supplied the second strategy. According to RoTo Architects principal Michael Rotondi, the team selected brick primarily for its heft. In the project account, he said that the material’s mass dampens vibration from sound waves and reduces the need for additional sound-absorption material. The account does not provide a measured transmission loss, sound-pressure reduction or before-and-after acoustic test, so the wall should be understood as a project-specific design response, not a quantified promise of soundproofing.
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The project was reported by Building Design + Construction in 2010.
What theater does the wall protect?
The wall was designed for the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theater, a black-box venue in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center on the University of California San Diego campus in La Jolla, California. RoTo Architects, based in Los Angeles, led the design of the wall and the 53,000-square-foot theater.
Building Design + Construction reported that the room could seat up to 450 people and that the project cost $15 million at the time. Both figures are historical values from the 2010 report, not current construction pricing or a current capacity statement.
A black-box theater can be configured for different productions, so the enclosure must support varied stage layouts, audience arrangements and acoustic conditions. In this project, the exterior sound problem was addressed as part of the architecture rather than by adding a generic product after the building was designed.
What is corbelling, and how was it used?
Corbelling is a masonry technique in which successive courses project or step from the course below. By controlling those projections, a wall can move away from a vertical plane without relying on a smooth cast curve. At the Potiker Theater, the technique allowed the brick surface to curve inward and then outward while also leaning dramatically from its base.
The design was not a single constant tilt. The wall’s balance depended on leaning in one direction and then back in another so its weight could be distributed through the structure. RoTo’s Rotondi summarized the practical advantage of masonry this way: “Brick doesn’t have to hold precise vertical lines.” The statement describes the flexibility of the technique, not an exemption from structural engineering or construction tolerances.
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The reported wall was about 50 feet high, 50 feet wide and 70 feet deep. Its unusual profile made the masonry a visible architectural element as well as part of the theater’s environmental and acoustic strategy.
Why does the wall curve inward and outward?
The changing curve was intended to control where reflected outdoor sound traveled. A flat, hard wall can return sound in a relatively predictable direction. The Potiker wall’s parabolic shape presents a sequence of differently oriented surfaces, so reflections are distributed across multiple directions rather than concentrated toward the theater’s main wall.
This is sound redirection, not sound absorption. The brick still reflects some acoustic energy; the geometry changes the paths of those reflections. Whether that produces an acceptable result depends on the location and spectrum of the noise source, the wall’s exact shape, nearby buildings, openings and the theater enclosure behind it.
The project description does not publish a computer model, frequency-by-frequency prediction or field measurement. Consequently, the claim should be phrased as the design team’s reported intent: the shape was meant to bounce sound in multiple directions. It should not be converted into a numerical reduction in decibels.
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How much did the nine-foot lean change construction?
A wall that rises nine feet out of plumb cannot be laid out safely by treating each course as an ordinary vertical stack. The crew needed a physical reference for the changing coordinates and a way to verify that the masonry followed the intended profile.
Kris Specht, senior superintendent for general contractor Rudolph and Sletten, described the control method: “To control the lean, we used a straight pole at each corner and tilted the pole to the exact coordinate, and then built the wall to match the pole.” The poles acted as full-height geometric guides. They gave masons a line to follow while the wall moved through its inward and outward curves.
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The crew also built a four-foot mockup. Masons counted plywood courses on the nearby mockup to transfer the sequence and understand how each course would step. A small-scale test section was especially useful for a corbelled wall because the visual effect, course spacing and transitions could be checked before the full-height work proceeded.
What bricks and reinforcement were used?
The wall was assembled from brick units reported as 4 by 16 inches, stacked row by row. Two 3/4-inch steel rods passed through each block. Those rods provided reinforcement while the masonry followed its nonvertical path.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe steel was part of a larger structural system, not a substitute for engineering. The wall’s mass, its changing center of gravity and the connections to the building all had to work together. The source describes the reinforcement and construction controls but does not publish structural calculations, allowable tolerances or a code analysis.
The same brick language was used for the slanting rooftop wall and the main structure. This helped make the acoustic element part of the building’s architecture instead of a freestanding screen that merely hid a technical treatment.
Why did the design team choose brick instead of a lighter enclosure?
Rotondi said the primary reason was heft. In a sound-control application, a heavier continuous element generally offers more resistance to vibration than a lightweight element, although the result depends on the entire assembly, its joints and its supports. The project account says the team expected the brick’s mass to damp sound-wave vibration and reduce the amount of additional absorption required.
“Reduce” does not mean “eliminate.” A theater still requires coordinated room acoustics, mechanical-noise control, isolation at doors and penetrations, and careful treatment of interior surfaces. The wall addressed one exterior-reflection and transmission problem within that broader system. No source figure establishes how much absorptive material was omitted or how much quieter the theater became.
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What are the main design approaches illustrated by the project?
The Potiker wall is useful because several decisions were made together. The following comparison is qualitative and describes the project team’s rationale; it is not a performance ranking based on independent tests.
| Design approach | Role in the project | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Sound redirection by geometry | Inward and outward curves, arranged as a parabolic profile, were intended to send reflections in multiple directions. | Redirection changes reflection paths; it does not absorb all sound. |
| Mass through masonry | Brick’s weight was selected to damp vibration and limit reliance on extra absorption. | No quantified transmission or vibration result was reported. |
| Reinforced corbelling | Two 3/4-inch steel rods in each 4-by-16-inch unit helped reinforce the leaning courses. | Structural adequacy depends on the complete engineered assembly. |
| Geometric construction controls | Tilted corner poles, exact coordinates and a four-foot mockup helped the crew reproduce the intended lean. | The method was developed for this custom wall and is not a generic installation kit. |
| Integrated architectural treatment | The brick formed both the slanting rooftop wall and the main structure. | Combining functions can increase coordination and construction complexity. |
What should architects and contractors take from the example?
The strongest lesson is to make acoustic intent part of the form and structure from the beginning. A project team considering a similar wall should establish the noise sources, the sensitive rooms and the desired reflection paths before fixing the geometry. The acoustic model, structural design and masonry detailing then need to be coordinated rather than developed as separate packages.
- Define the problem. Identify whether the concern is airborne sound from traffic, nearby activity, mechanical equipment or reflections between buildings. The wall’s shape responds to reflection paths, while mass and airtight construction address transmission.
- Set measurable criteria. If a project needs a specific sound level or isolation value, write that requirement into the design brief and testing plan. The Potiker account supplies no such measured target or result.
- Model the geometry. Study the source, wall, theater wall and surrounding structures together. A curve that redirects sound away from one facade could send it toward another receptor.
- Coordinate structure and masonry. A leaning, corbelled wall changes loads as it rises. Reinforcement, supports, joints, drainage and movement details must be resolved before construction.
- Build a representative mockup. The Potiker crew used a four-foot section and counted plywood courses. A mockup can expose course, tolerance and appearance issues before full-height work begins.
- Control the layout continuously. Full-height reference poles or another surveyed system can keep each course aligned with the designed coordinates. The exact method should be selected by the contractor and engineer for the site.
- Verify the finished result. If acoustic performance matters, commission the appropriate field measurements. A striking form is not evidence of a particular decibel reduction.
What are the project’s documented dimensions and figures?
The figures below come from the 2010 Building Design + Construction report and should be read as historical project data.
- Theater area: 53,000 square feet.
- Reported capacity: up to 450 seats.
- Reported project cost: $15 million in 2010.
- Wall size: about 50 feet high, 50 feet wide and 70 feet deep.
- Maximum reported lean: nine feet out of plumb.
- Brick unit: 4 by 16 inches.
- Reinforcement: two 3/4-inch steel rods through each block.
None of these dimensions indicates acoustic performance by itself. They explain the scale and construction challenge of the wall.
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It does not prove that every curved brick wall will keep a theater quiet, that brick always outperforms lighter assemblies, or that additional absorption can be omitted. Site geometry, wall continuity, openings, joints, structure-borne paths and the theater’s own enclosure all affect the result.
It also does not provide a published sound-level comparison. The available account is a project feature describing the design rationale and construction process. For a new venue, an acoustician would need project-specific predictions and measurements, potentially including exterior source levels, facade isolation, interior background noise and reverberation behavior.
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Where can readers learn more about performance-venue acoustics?
For broader professional context, Routledge lists Acoustics of Multi-Use Performing Arts Centers, a reference focused on acoustic design for performance venues. The listing does not state that the book covers the Potiker Theater, so it should be treated as general background rather than a source for this wall’s performance.
How we picked the facts that matter
This feature focuses on details that explain the wall’s reported acoustic intent and the means used to build it: the corbelled geometry, nine-foot lean, brick mass, steel reinforcement, layout controls, theater context and historical project figures. Because the source provides no independent acoustic measurements, the article separates reported design rationale from verified performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Potiker Theater wall a form of soundproofing?
It is better described as one part of an acoustic enclosure strategy. Its shape was intended to redirect reflections, while its brick mass was intended to limit vibration; neither description establishes complete soundproofing or a specific decibel reduction.
What is the difference between corbelling and a conventional curved wall?
Corbelling creates the curve by stepping masonry courses so each course projects relative to the one below. A conventional curved wall may use continuously shaped units, a structural frame or another curved substrate, whereas this project used the course-by-course behavior of brick as part of its architectural expression.
Did the design team reuse this brick technique elsewhere?
The project account says RoTo later used a similar corbelling technique for an art and architecture building at Prairie View A&M University. It also notes that those later walls had steel-stud backing, so they were not identical assemblies.
Can standard residential bricks reproduce the theater wall’s acoustic effect?
Not reliably. The Potiker wall was a custom, engineered assembly in which geometry, mass, reinforcement, supports and the theater enclosure worked together; ordinary bricks alone do not reproduce that system or guarantee an acoustic outcome.
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