Before ever working with acoustic solutions it’s not uncommon to pose the question, “Do I have to?”When most people think of stunning architecture, wood floors, massive glass panes, large spaces, all usually come to mind. All of which, even if beautiful, are facilitators of noise!
Hanson, a digital marketing company in Ohio, recently renovated three floors of the famous Tower on the Maumee and created a stunning office space to serve as its new headquarters. Each of their conference rooms featured big glass windows, smooth walls and ceilings, and plenty of wood furnishings. That sounds familiar.
We finally get to this space, it’s finished and beautiful, but it doesn’t work. The point of all of our spaces are to collaborate with clients and other employees. The spaces won't work because the sound is annoying.
It's embarrassing. We reached out to Conwed to say come in and help us and let’s collaborate together and figure this thing out.
Conwed dispatched two engineers and took some measurements, and wouldn’t you know it, the noise was reading bad in all results, even off the charts in one room. These charts, called RT60s, measure how long it takes for a given frequency to drop by 60db. Basically, how long it takes for a noise to go away.
So what’s an architect to do? Fabric-wrapped panels may be effective, but Hanson clearly wanted a smooth finish on their surfaces. Enter, Eurospan by Conwed. A stretch fabric system that is extremely customizable, and a top-notch acoustic performer.
Not only could Hanson have used Eurospan in their original designs to have acoustically-tuned spaces that are seamless and beautiful, but retrofitting Eurospan to their space is also doable.
To read more about how Eurospan works click the button below.
After collecting data in the Hanson building, we visited a Conwed Eurospan job for comparison. A private school in Lexington, Kentucky, Transylvania University. Hanson’s issue stemmed from assuming that in order to achieve all-smooth surfaces, you must use all-hard materials.
SLAM, the architecture firm behind the Transylvania project, has been using Eurospan for years though. With this tool they also pursued the all-smooth surfaces look, and the final results were as beautiful as they were quiet. Did we mention that the space was 100x larger than Hanson’s too?
To sum it all up, acoustics matter. But you don’t have to make a choice between having either a specific look or a great sounding space. Whether you use something fancy like Eurospan, or make a complex mosaic of wall panels, just remember that noise should not be left to chance.
1445 Holland Rd
Maumee, OH 43537
