Our office building client is considering raising their desk partitions to help with acoustics. Our team believes that acoustic quality is an important component of Indoor Environmental Quality, even though it is not directly addressed by LEED. Therefore we are trying to carefully balance this concern with LEED credit requirements. Raising the furniture partitions just 6-inches to 66-inches total will help significantly, according to a study performed by a professional acoustics consultant. The client is proposing to make the portion of the panel above 60-inches clear, so as not to intrude on the daylighting and views. Will this still allow the furniture panels to be excluded from the calculations for daylighting and views? A previous CIR cites TRANSLUCENT panels, and suggests that these would not be acceptable. Our client is considering clear panels.
Views through interior glazing may be counted under this credit. However the horizontal view requirement of the credit must still be demonstrated from the seated height average of 42 inches. Applicable Internationally.