Analysis of acoustic issues in modern office buildings

For some time, we notice increasing number of scientific texts highlighting co-dependency between acoustics and other sciences and the importance of collaboration between acousticians and specialists in different fields for our everyday life. We want to present you with one of such papers from the border of architecture and acoustics, recently published in Applied Acoustics journal. Authors of the article present both the theory and practical solutions in architectural room design to achieve acoustic optimization in office buildings.

In the paper, Elzbieta Trocka-Leszczynska and Joanna Jablonska, academics from the Faculty of Architecture at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, discuss the results of their long-term study on connections between architecture and acoustics. They emphasize mutual influence of the two disciplines in designing office buildings. For instance, sound propagation in the office space and its absorption properties depend on materials used to build the office facility but also on the shape of the building and other physical properties of the construction.

As for the practical part, researchers analyse some examples of office spaces where optimization of sound field was not achieved but they also show examples of good practices, pointing at desirable solutions and outcomes of the cooperation between an architect and an acoustician. Based on their conclusions, they prepared a set of guidelines and directions on architectural acoustical design of office space.

Full article is available online: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003682X20306459