Pleasing the Eyes and Ears

A feature of building acoustics, specifically room acoustics, that often doesn’t receive the attention it should is the aesthetics of any treatment specified. Admittedly for some rooms and spaces the appearance is of minor importance; plant rooms for instance are not normally noted for the way the décor of the walls contrasts with the delicate shade of ‘Galvanised Grey’ of the bare ductwork!

For public buildings such as schools, theatres, hotels, restaurants and retail outlets the appearance can be of equal importance to the acoustics; there is little merit in having a beautifully decorated hotel lobby, for example, if the reverberation is such that speech intelligibility is seriously impaired. Acoustics consultants can easily get carried away designing the ‘perfect acoustic’ for a space and neglecting the fact that any treatments and furnishings must blend-in with the character of the space being treated and with the décor of other areas in the same building.

Design teams working on public and commercial building projects usually include an interior designer and frequently compromises have to be made between acoustic performance and aesthetic design. At NAS we work closely with an associate company (ycid@yasminchopin.com) that has particular expertise in designing interiors, particularly of commercial and public buildings, that work acoustically. This coordinated approach saves significant time in the design process and is proving popular with architects and designers generally.

Acoustics for Schools

In October 2009 Baroness Morgan, Children's Minister, announced that acoustic testing will be a contractual requirement for all BSF (Building Schools for the Future) projects in England and it will mean that no PfS (Partnership for Schools) funding will be signed off for a BSF secondary school building project without a financial commitment to having the acoustic tests completed. This is in addition to the Minimum Design Standard being introduced into the BSF programme; under this scheme all proposed designs for BSF schools will have to be 'passed' by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. Designs not meeting the standard will be stopped at their final review.

Such a commitment is regarded by many as being long overdue and whilst acoustic testing is already carried out by some contractors its implementation has lacked impetus. The ministerial statement has now provided such impetus and the design practice note for clients, to be published by the dcsf in December 2010, is keenly awaited.

Schools are acoustically complicated buildings and the potential for architects and contractors to 'get things wrong' is considerable. An acoustics consultant should be appointed to every design team to ensure that the Minimum Design Standard is met and to carry out pre completion verification testing.