On 4th March 2021 an online conference was held between the School of BEA Acoustics group and the world famous Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture. 45 students and academic staff from both institutions attended the afternoon event. The theme of the conference was Acoustics in Architecture, Architecture in Acoustics. The idea of a conference was formulated and developed by the director of Institute of Acoustics (IOA) courses at LSBU Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina, in response to the impossibility this year to hold the face-to-face educational exchange events and site visits that both universities normally have in March. The aim of the conference was to improve the understanding of each other’s disciplines, enhance communication and promote collaborative work between acousticians and architects. 

The conference commenced with an introduction to the event in the virtual main room, aimed to set the scene and create a relaxed and participatory atmosphere. Then attendees calling in from diverse locations around Europe and the Americas, were distributed in three break out rooms with a balanced mixed audience. Students from both institutions delivered a total of seventeen presentations in the three parallel sessions moderated by academic staff. Question and discussion time after each presentation was keenly utilised by the engaging audience and provided the exchange of knowledge, ideas and insights sought by the organisers. As promised in the programme, the conference was followed by a virtual audio-visual tour of the LSBU Acoustic laboratory facilities were the concepts of reverberation and absorption were aurally demonstrated. After the tour, a friendly and virtual networking event was held for attendees to meet and greet.

Feedback collected so far has been very positive with attendees rating the whole experience as excellent and 9 out of 10. Thanks goes to AA School of Architecture teaching staff and former LSBU MSc Acoustics students Laura de Azcarate and LSBU Acoustics PhD student Douglas Shearer for assisting with the organisation. It is hoped that this successful event will be repeated and even expanded in following years with the participation other universities.