Acoustic Flanking Archives

“Acoustics in Building Design” talk for WIP, Bath

Posted by IT MACH

“Acoustics in Building Design” talk for WIP, Bath

7th March 2018Acoustic Design, Acoustic Flanking, Talks/ Conferences

Women in Property welcomes you to this MACH Acoustics Presentation on ‘Acoustics in Building Design’ which will cover the crucial aspects of acoustic design in buildings. Buildings are not only different in form and function, but also throughout the life span of a building. From initial design through to conception and ultimately demolition, buildings develop from initial detailed design, to site and finally into a fully functional working building.

This presentation will delve into the lifespan of a building, by exploring acoustics in contractor’s proposals, employer’s requirements and legal provisions in addition to how web based tools and BIM is changing the way we, as professionals, are able to input into the acoustic design of a building.

For further company information, please visit: http://www.machacoustics.com/
Places for this talk are £8 members and £18 non members (men welcome) to include evening drinks. The talk will be at Integral offices, Bath. Please email catherine@machacoustics.com for further details.

Posted by IT MACH

Redevelopment of Bristol’s Colston Hall

29th January 2018Acoustic Design, Acoustic Flanking, Acoustic Testing, Music Spaces

The Colston Hall in Bristol is to be redeveloped – providing the funding is in place the transformation will start in 2017 – the hall’s 150th year – and could take two years. The redevelopment will include remodelling the auditorium, its balcony, roof and an overhaul of the smaller Lantern venue. It will also restore the iconic Victorian frontage and open up the building’s cellars for the first time in 100 years where educational workshops take place. The call for bids to enter this competition came earlier this year, and MACH Acoustics was pleased to spend some time in this great venue gathering ideas to propose for acoustic consultancy.

Max Reynolds says “As part of the Colston Hall bid, MACH Acoustics produced some flythrough animations of the existing and proposed halls. The animations not only included a visualisation but also an auralisation of the spaces to allow the viewer to get a feel for the relative lighting and acoustic characteristics of the two spaces.

Existing Hall as above image

New Hall as proposed

Generating animations like this requires:

· Building an acoustic model of the space and defining an animation path through the model

· Generating impulse responses at set intervals along the animation path

· Convolving these impulse responses together with audio to generate the auralisation through the model

· Enhancing the acoustic model visually and carrying out a similar process to generate the visuals along the animation path

· The audio and video then need to be joined together and the final animation is created

The real power of an auralisation is that it allows us to hear what the space will sound like before it is built. The visualisation is an essential component in giving the viewer some context of what they are listening to. This sort of animation can be used to highlight different configurations and how this impacts the visual and acoustic characteristics of any given space. Producing auralisations like this provides an unrivalled level of clarity and understanding between the acoustician and the client and the rest of the design team of what a space will be like, maximising the chances of end user satisfaction.”

So, as to the result of the competition – did we win? No, but Ze Nunes and the MACH Acoustics team were invited for interview which gave them a good opportunity to meet the architect Levitt Bernstein and the Colston Hall panel. The architect made some complimentary observations, and in terms of being Bristolians the MACH team will be winners yet enjoying the Colston Hall one day in full glory.

Posted by IT MACH

Troubleshooting in Schools CPD – sound education

29th January 2018Acoustic Design, Acoustic Flanking, CPDs

Freshly written, this new CPD was the inspiration of Josh Childs, an expert in the field of education acoustics consultancy. When asked what prompted him to write such a presentation Josh explained that the same issues and problems kept arising and his experience of working on so many schools led him to believe his solutions could also benefit others if explained in advance so shortcomings could be avoided. Josh believes there really are only one or two viable solutions which are cost effective, and this CPD highlights the best practise.

Josh explains “Acoustic design should be considered from junction details all the way to building orientation and layout, so we want to demonstrate the fundamental acoustic principles that you will need to consider throughout the building design.

This CPD will cover the new requirements from the updated BB93 and look at topics such as;

· Getting the most out of your music spaces;

· How to naturally ventilate in noisy areas;

· Gyms and sports halls – common problems and the solutions;

· How to work acoustics within sustainable design (thermal mass, CLT, alternative materials etc);

· Atriums, ‘Streets’ and breakout spaces – creating the right environment;

· Introducing our free online acoustic design tools.”

This CPD gives architects more to think about when approaching designing a school and getting the layout right. For contractors they will benefit from value engineering nuggets. MACH provides a comprehensive review of common acoustic problems that occur within educational buildings and the best methods to solve them.

Posted by IT MACH

Residential Developments – Example Report

16th September 2010Acoustic Flanking

MACH Acoustics have recently been asked to demonstrate the quality of our work and the approach taken to residential building design. As a result we have loaded several example residential reports to the MACH Library.

Click on image to download example report

This report covers the acoustic design review for City View in Bristol, where acoustic consultancy was provided for a £7.5m residential development. Along with acoustic consultancy, pre-completion testing was carried out. As a result of our clearly illustrated work, the design team, quantity surveyor and the site team understood the acoustic requirements of this building. This resulted in a full compliant building in line with Approved Document E. Early sound tests was use to demonstrate that the cost effective, lean design work. These sound tests also proved to be exceptionally useful in helping the construction team to understand importance of key details.

The second part of this document is a detailed architectural review covering acoustic flanking of the residential block within the St Austell Town Centre Redevelopment project. This was a £70m development consisting of car parks, residential buildings, a cinema block and a shopping mall. MACH Acoustics provided acoustic consultancy, pre-completion testing, early sound testing, PPG24 assessments and BS4142 assessments. Detailed PPG24 and BS4142 assessments were required for planning reasons.