Post by Bollinger+Grohmann

B u i l d i n g P h y s i c s One room, two functions: an acoustic challenge  At Hermann Gmeiner Primary School in Monheim (new build & refurbishment), designed by Sehw Architektur and Lorber Paul Architektur und Städtebau, we worked through exactly this challenge – step by step. The space came with a difficult set of constraints: a coupled canteen acting as a sound reservoir, an elongated room geometry prone to echoes, and parallel hard-surfaced walls. The result without intervention: poor speech intelligibility, exactly where you need it most. Starting from the architectural design, we developed and compared four variants using 3D simulation: 1. Mobile partition wall to acoustically decouple the auditorium from the canteen  2. Diffusers on the rear stage wall  3. Edge absorbers in the stage area  4. Sound-absorbing treatment on the rear auditorium wall  To support the client's decision-making, we also prepared an auralisation, allowing them to hear the difference between variants before the building was even built. The visualisations give an insight into this process: from first analysis to a well-founded recommendation. The images show the simulated spatial distribution of speech intelligibility and quantify the improvement due to the suggested acoustic measures. The left image shows the room without any acoustic treatment, while the right image shows a significant increase in the speech transmission index when absorbers, diffusors, and a partition are used to improve the acoustic quality of the space. Our approach: analyse, simulate, optimise. Visual: B+G