The school I am documenting has a Music Classroom that is mostly composed of ACT which meets the required NRC of .7, however, some of the ACT tiles have been replaced by Pyramid Sound Diffusers with only an NRC of 0.1. Is there something I am missing here? It doesn't seem right that we would not comply with the Prerequisite or achieve LEED for that matter, because of something that is commonly done is music rooms. Would the Music room not be considered a core learning space? Any advice would be appreciated.
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Daniel Hicks
Daniel Hicks, E.I., INCEGeiler & Associates
267 thumbs up
January 25, 2013 - 10:48 am
Hi Alberto
Music Rooms are considered a core learning space. You are on the right track. A simple way to be back in compliance if you keep going down the Option 1 route would be to add wall panels, NRC 0.7 or better, to compensate for the missing ceiling tiles.
The other way would be to not do the wall panels and try Option 2 and make the reverb time calculations to see if you're in compliance.
Dave Barg
Sustainability ManagerRQ Construction
8 thumbs up
January 25, 2013 - 11:28 am
Thanks for the tip Daniel, I was under the impression that you could only count material on the ceiling, makes perfect sense to be able to count wall panels as well, we should have enough in the design already to make-up for the SF in the ceiling.
Thanks.
Dave Barg
Sustainability ManagerRQ Construction
8 thumbs up
January 25, 2013 - 7:45 pm
Daniel,
After inputting the absorbent wall panels into the calculation, we are still short of the required SF. I have discussed with my acoustical consultant, and their argument is that the music room is a "special-purpose" room and therefore should not be included as part of the calculations. The room is currently optimally designed for acoustics, adding absorbing panels or removing diffusing panels would result in poor acoustical performance.
Would you agree with pursuing compliance in that manner? Trying to be very careful here since it is a PR.
Dave Barg
Sustainability ManagerRQ Construction
8 thumbs up
January 25, 2013 - 7:45 pm
Daniel,
After inputting the absorbent wall panels into the calculation, we are still short of the required SF. I have discussed with my acoustical consultant, and their argument is that the music room is a "special-purpose" room and therefore should not be included as part of the calculations. The room is currently optimally designed for acoustics, adding absorbing panels or removing diffusing panels would result in poor acoustical performance.
Would you agree with pursuing compliance in that manner? Trying to be very careful here since it is a PR.
Daniel Hicks
Daniel Hicks, E.I., INCEGeiler & Associates
267 thumbs up
January 28, 2013 - 10:25 am
Hi Alberto
You can definitely try that approach and write in the narrative how it is a special purpose space. I don't know how USGBC will react. The LEED documents explicitly state that music rooms are core learning spaces so they might come back and ask for absorption.
Christopher Karner
January 21, 2015 - 11:21 am
Daniel,
Can you reference exactly where LEED explicitly states that music rooms are core learning spaces? I don't see it in LEED 2009, it only references ANSI/ASA S12.60-2010/Part 1, which states:
"This Part (meaning the part covering core learning spaces) does not apply for natatoria, auditoria, music performance spaces, teleconferencing rooms, or special education rooms such as those for severely acoustically challenged students, which all require special acoustical design and treatment that is not within the scope of this standard."
https://global.ihs.com/home_page_asa.cfm?&rid=ASA
Daniel Hicks
Daniel Hicks, E.I., INCEGeiler & Associates
267 thumbs up
January 28, 2015 - 4:14 pm
You can reference page 5 and page 8 of this http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Archive/General/Docs10543.pdf .
It may be printed elsewhere more recently, but the above is what I'm familiar with.