Rule number one: expect the unexpected. Rule number two: even the experts never stop learning. Rule number three: be prepared to try new strategies to meet the demands posed by the former and to foster lifelong learning opportunities presented by the latter.
1821 Blake Street is a gorgeous old historic firehouse in Lower Downtown Denver. The tenants are attracted to the classic brick warehouse architecture in the neighborhood, and to the historic elements that are preserved in the building itself. Archival photographs documenting firefighters from the late 1800's adorn the entryway, and an antique horse-drawn fire "truck" hangs from the atrium at the center of the building. And of course the tenants love their exposed ceilings.
There are several obvious acoustic challenges already: we will be using an open floor plan, and the building boiler & chiller are directly above one corner of the office. The upper level which will house our conference table is not closed off and the walls are not going to help muffle our raucous meetings. We're already looking at acoustic wall treatments, isolation pads, and acoustic strategies to mask noise throughout the office.
The exposed ceilings throughout the building, it turns out, lead to another interesting challenge. To prevent the office below us from having to be exposed to too much of our noise, the owners have established stringent requirements for flooring material in terms of acoustical ratings. The manner in which InterfaceFLOR carpet tiles are typically installed (e.g. without a traditional rolled out carpet pad) works perfectly well in most settings - but don't meet the acoustical requirements as set by the landlord.
Our dear friend from InterfaceFLOR, Rob Luedke, is looking into potential strategies to meet the landlord's requirements and allow us to use the beautiful carpet tiles we've picked out. It's actually exciting (assuming that it works out) because it will be a strategy that he hasn't used before, and if it works could be a workable and sustainable approach for tenants improving spaces in similarly challenging spaces.
Resources on Acoustic Comfort - Here are a few that I've found (let me know if you have more!):
