J O H N O ' K E E F E
B.A.Sc. M.Sc. P.Eng. FIOA
John O’Keefe was fortunate enough to have been raised in the church. As such, he is perhaps more familiar with the day to day workings of a worship space than his contemporaries. He is his country's most renowed acoustician for performing arts facilities with over 35 years experience.
That said, Mr. O'Keefe has never worked on as many worship buildings as he would like. Primarily because his work was seen as too expensive, which perhaps it was. Some of his completed worship buildings are shown below. In the new incarnation of O'Keefe Acoustics, Mr. O'Keefe has, as it were, greater discretion to choose the projects he works on. His hope is to bring all the exciting new developments in the science of concert halls and theatres to ecclesiastical buildings.
Mr. O’Keefe is the winner of several awards, including Canada’s highest distinction for any form of engineering, The Schreyer Award. The Schreyer is typically the purview of multi-nationals, building things like the Confederation Bridge. In 2007 he won The Schreyer for innovative engineering ideas that led up to the very successful Medicine Hat Arts and Heritage Centre. He has been responsible for optimizing the acoustics of some of Canada’s finest performing arts centres, most recently the acoustical renovation of Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Plus various projects in the United States, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean.
Mr. O’Keefe is an active musician having sung bass in St. Martins in the Fields Choir for 22 years. He continues to volunteer at the Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre playing bass and guitar. He also gives the occasional homily at his local parish, most recently a talk on Faith and Science.
Other representative projects include:
Ismaili Centre Prayer Hall
St. Patrick's Church, Toronto
Sermon - Faith and Science, Roncesvales United Church
Schreyer Award
Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto
Orpheum Theatre Renovation, Vancouver
Queen Elizabeth Theatre Renovation, Vancouver
Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts, Toronto
Benjamin and Marion Schuster Hall, Dayton
Paul Davenport Theatre, University of Western Ontario
Soulpepper/George Brown College Renovation, Toronto
Koerner Hall, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto
Various projects in the United States, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean
Memberships
Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics, UK
Professional Engineers of Ontario
Acoustical Society of America
Canadian Acoustical Association
Education
B.A.Sc., Electrical Engineering, University of Toronto, 1981
M.Sc., Sound and Vibration Studies, Southampton University, 1985
john@okeefeacoustics.com