The Sonic Arts Research Centre was established at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland in February 2001.  The Centre, the first purpose-built facility of its kind in the UK, has brought together over fifty researchers working in the fields of music, computer science and electrical and electronic engineering into a world-class research group.  Construction of the new purpose-built facilities began in July 2002 and was completed in October 2003.

Facilities

The new building houses

• five multi-channel studios, 
• two computer labs, 
• meeting rooms, 
• seminar spaces and 
• the world’s first Sonic Laboratory.      

It was formally opened by Karlheinz Stockhausen in April 2004 as part of the  Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music . 

Since its opening, the Centre has won an award for construction excellence from the Construction Employment Federation (CEF) and a commendation at the 2004 BIAT (British Institute of Architectural Technologists) awards for technical excellence.