Upgrading and updating facilities offers a school the opportunity to refresh their learning and teaching areas, making them more aligned with modern-day effective learning principles. One such principle is the movement toward ‘flexibility’ in learning spaces. However, with these changes comes the accompanying problems.
“When you have flexible open education spaces, you have to pay attention to the problem of acoustics”, says Jim Seumanu, Principal at New Zealand’s Westmount School. “If your students can’t hear you, how are they supposed to learn?”
Jim set this challenge to Unispace’s Matthew Hill. There is a general recognition that in open area learning spaces, the base level of unwanted noise is likely to increase as students work collaboratively together. The challenge here was therefore one of finding a way to drop the floor level of ambient noise in the open learning spaces at Westmount School’s Palmerston North Campus. Matthew turned to Acoufelt.
In the case of Westmount School, an acoustic floor solution was required. For increased noise absorption results, Acoufelt QuietBack™ carpet tiles offered a significant opportunity for helping to reduce noise.
Matthew Hill specified the Flinders QuietBack™ Collection in a custom size plank format. The plank format allowed the carpet to be installed in an engaging pattern, using a blend of solid tones in breakout areas to enhance the aesthetic of the space. Whilst functional and visually stimulating, the installation most importantly mitigated the acoustics problem, with these tiles achieving an NRC rating of 0.35.
“We are loving the acoustic performance of the space”, says Jim Seumanu.
Featured is the acoustic carpet tile Flinders in Shale Outcrop FL05 and Pichi FL07
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We are constantly updating our palette, which includes adding and discontinuing certain color lines. If you can’t find the color you are looking for, please contact us with your color request, as we may still have stock available.
