#Retrofit#Redesign#Officeacoustics#Roommodes
Recently completed office space. This entire office space, consisting of 4 floors was completely re-done after 8 years of existence. The main reason was #acoustics. Speech could be heard on either side of most partitions, and the echo in most rooms was significant. Detailed calculations and measurements, exact detailing and sections, and good control on the building services routing and openings helped us get real good numbers.
As an aside, this was such a pleasure to work on. It’s a huge bonus when you get along so well with the client and the architects, and we looked forward to the work visits for the sheer wit and camaraderie, among other things.
One of the things we’ve noticed over the years, is that ceiling array microphones react to room modes. Room modes are standing waves that every room less than 30 feet in size has. These standing waves have frequencies predominantly in the Lower frequency areas, which means the waves are really long – typically the size of room dimensions. This leads to the experience perceptible dips and highs in sound amplitude as one walks around (check with one ear closed). Would love to hear from those who’ve experienced these in corporate environments. . Room modes are issues we typically address for studios, home theaters and listening rooms. Room modes in corporate conference rooms generally don’t get much attention. But when we address room modes and incorporate some mitigation into the interiors, the results are lovely, instead of ‘chalta hai/ok/chalega/also rans’. Obviously this needs more nuanced and objective studies and comparisons, but discussing experiences is a start.
