Our role in the project
With the lecture theatre’s basic design concept already known, we were brought in to help the design team:
- Optimise the internal design of the theatre for natural speech intelligibility;
- Address specific noise and vibration requirements including low background noise;
Specific considerations
Natural speech intelligibility was critical
Cost effective design of an educational facility
Acoustic features of this project
In our design review and subsequent guidance, we:
- Used CATT acoustic sound modelling software to investigate the optimum:
- Placement of acoustic panels overhead and to the rear walls;
- Layout of the lecture seating.
- Analysed the effect of mechanical and external noise intrusion in our assessment;
- Provided internal acoustical design recommendations to:
- Enhance speech projection without necessarily using voice amplification;
- Make any mechanical noise as unobtrusive as possible;
- Minimise noise from neighbouring rooms and corridors
