Acoustics

January 25, 2021

Creating Unique Spaces for Exploration at Science World

Science World’s iconic, geodesic dome from Expo ’86 is a well-known Vancouver landmark. And with approximately 700,000 visitors a year, the science centre is one of its most popular attractions. Science World offers experiential learning in a variety of galleries and circulation spaces with different themes that require a unique look and feel. Good design is…

March 18, 2020

Grand Valley School — Hitting All the Right Notes

For the Grand Valley Local School District, consolidating five different schools into one 244,000 square foot K-12 facility required a floor that could do it all. They decided on nora® premium rubber flooring, which covers classrooms, corridors, locker and weight rooms, stairwells and the cafeteria—15 years on, learn how well it’s held up.

July 16, 2019

Sound Advice for Open Office Design

Open offices are here to stay, and so is the open office noise problem. For the modern workplace, corporate designers and specifiers should consider noise levels and employee needs for individual space. For example, noisy offices cause increased levels of stress and anxiety, according to the 2019 “What’s That Sound?” Workplace Acoustics Study from Interface.…

October 16, 2018

5 Things to Think About When It Comes to School Flooring

Choosing the right school flooring should be an easy choice. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, here are five criteria to help you select flooring that looks good and works hard. 1. Longevity Ideally, whatever flooring you choose for your school facilities will last a long time, and good flooring will be backed up with a…

June 4, 2018

Better Products Make for +Positive Spaces

People’s expectations of interior spaces are becoming increasingly complicated. To keep pace (and even outpace) our complex lives, today’s built environments must offer more than ever before. It’s not enough for the spaces we live and work in to simply exist – they need to contribute to our lives, offering something positive.

October 24, 2017

What is Sound and Why Does it Matter?

Sound – especially sound in the spaces where we work – affects us far more than you might think. When it comes to designing interior spaces, acoustic considerations are often put aside or completely ignored in favor of purely visual aesthetics. However, condemning office workers, hospital staff, students and teachers, guests in hotels and even…

September 29, 2017

The True Cost of Noise

Dead silence can be an intimidating working environment. Some sound in any workplace is generally desirable: pleasing background sounds like the gentle, indecipherable babble of colleagues speaking, one’s own choice of music or perhaps the sounds of nature coming through an open window. However, much of the sound in typical workplaces is undesirable: ringing phones,…

September 30, 2015

How Can We Design Mindful Offices?

How can we design the mindful office? What would a mindful office look and feel like? An introduction to mindfulness We live and work in a world full of distracting pollution. With increased digital connectivity through access to emails, social media, the web’s encyclopedic repository of information and all the other distractions that are commonplace…