May 27th, 2013

Sound design – acoustics and finishes

At a recent TED talk, sound expert Julian Treasure, lamented the lack of designing for ears.  He urged architects to consider acoustic treatments, placement of products away from noise, and to create a new profession of urban sound planners.

Treasure’s talk was one of the Sound Education seminars about sound and acoustics and their influence on teaching and learning what Ecophon acoustic ceilings is bringing out.  London architect Richard Mazuch calls it “invisible architecture,” a phrase with which Treasure and Brian Clarke, Senior Associate at acoustic consultants Wilkinson Murray, can identify.

“Design for experience, not appearance, to have spaces that sound as good as they look, that improve our health, well-being, social behaviour and productivity,” is Treasure’s maxim.

Products and materials and design techniques are available both for improving how a room sounds “where products are chosen to improve the aural experience in a space,” says Clarke, and “sound isolation between spaces where materials have mass and stop sound transfer or intrusion to occupied areas.”

Source:

http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/comment/design-for-ears-acoustics-and-finishes