Tag Archives: Acoustics

Exploring how sound and noise impact wellbeing in office design

To tap into the built environment’s full potential to improve wellbeing, one needs to better understand not only how noise negatively affects occupants’ physical and mental health, but the ways in which “the sonic aspect of buildings can be intentionally articulated to achieve a richer, more satisfying built environment: one that responds to the ear as well as the eye.”

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Sound bite: Enhancing acoustics in indoor atriums

Indoor atriums tend to feature many sound-reflective material surfaces, creating a risk of excessive build-up of speech and activity noise. While the dialogue among activity noise, spatial volume, and material reflectivity tends to pose acoustical challenges, it is entirely possible to seamlessly incorporate effective acoustical solutions into the design of such spaces, at little to no expense to their architectural character.

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Sound of silence: Specifying the four roles of acoustic ceilings

The designer and specifier decide which of these roles the ceiling will take on in any project. The ceiling can assume all, none, or any combination of the four roles. It is possible for the partitions and floor slab to provide adequate isolation without a ceiling. Mechanical equipment can be located remotely to sound-sensitive rooms. Absorption can be provided on other surfaces and via furnishing.

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