Acoustic conditioning of the Centre d’Estudis Politècnics

Presentation

As stated by the Murmur Architecture Studio, «it was commissioned to refurbish and extend an educational centre located in a typical building in the Eixample distric of Barcelona, in Plaça Urquinaona. The existing layout was the result of many partial refurbishments carried out over the years and access was through the neighbours’ staircase. The project’s main objective was to connect the existing floors with a new staircase, seeking maximum visibility on the ground floor, while at the same time proposing an integral restoration of the centre«.

We were commissioned to improve the internal acoustics of some rooms of the Centre d’Estudis Poltècnics. Acustiart type absorbent acoustic panels will be installed on the walls. The distribution and colours were defined by the owners and the architectural firm.

A functional element was sought that would be quick to assemble and would solve the problem of excessive reverberation, which was very significant in various rooms.

The problem was solved by installing Acustiart acoustic panels on the walls which preserved the visibility of the Catalana Voult ceiling that confers personality to the room.

The rooms where the work has been carried out are a classroom, the reception area and the offices. The result is optimal, achieving an adequate reduction in the reverberation times of the different rooms, a reduction in background noise levels and a high increase in the intelligibility of speech.

The space of the Centre d’Estudis Politècnics in Plaça Urquinaona in Barcelona will be open to the public in the next 48H OPEN HOUSE OF BARCELONA. This event recognises and gives visibility to unique architectural buildings in Barcelona.

It is essential to have easily removable acoustic treatments, given the unique nature of the building, and to enable maintenance operations, repainting, etc. to be carried out properly, without having to replace the acoustic treatments.