Acentech Inc's acoustician and Acentech Studio A consultant Christopher Jaffe, has been awarded the 2011 Wallace Clement Sabine Medal by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) for furthering the knowledge of architectural acoustics. The Sabine Medal will be presented to Jaffe in November at the ASA's 162nd meeting in San Diego.
"With over 50 years of experience designing great performance venues, Chris is widely known as a true innovator in the acoustics field. No other acoustical consultant has worked with as many professional symphony orchestras, opera companies, dance groups and theater companies," said Chris Savereid, principal at Acentech.
Jaffe was honored by the ASA for innovative acoustical solutions in performance hall design and for architectural acoustics education.
An internationally renowned pioneer in the field of acoustical design for the performing arts, Jaffe has consulted on more than 250 concert halls, opera houses, theaters, and music pavilions on five continents, including Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and renovations of the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and Opera House in Washington, D.C., Severence Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Hollywood Bowl in California.
His innovative Concert Hall Shaper revolutionized acoustic design for multi-use halls, giving them the resonance and richness of the world's best concert halls, and he has worked with many world-renowned architects throughout his career. In 2009, Dr. Jaffe joined Acentech's Studio A, a specialized consulting group offering acoustical, audiovisual design, and vibration control for the performing arts.

Dr. Jaffe's book, The Acoustics of Performance Halls - From Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, which covers his approach to the design of these spaces from the perspective of his 50-year career, was published in 2010. Dr. Jaffe is the author of more than 100 papers presented to professional gatherings and the recipient of nine patents. He has held professorships at the Juilliard School, the City University of New York, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he developed a Masters Program in Architectural Acoustics.

Dr. Jaffe received a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1949 and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the same institution in 1980. He also received a Master's degree from Columbia University in 2001. Among his other honors, Dr. Jaffe was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the American Institute of Architects Collaborative Achievement Award, and was elected to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Hall of Fame.

About Acentech
Acentech Inc. is a multi-disciplinary acoustics, audiovisual systems design, and vibration consulting firm providing a wide range of services to a diverse group of clients. With offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Trevose, Pennsylvania; and Westlake Village, California, the company's professional staff of more than 50 consultants has broad and deep expertise in acoustics and audiovisual systems design consulting. Having celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2008, Acentech is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its type: an unequaled resource to engineers, architects, and designers worldwide. For more information, please visit www.acentech.com.