Achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design acoustical requirements in a commercial office project

Abstract

This paper will discuss a recently completed a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) office renovation project in San Francisco, California. The project had multiple aims: office space, test laboratory for new materials and technologies, and teaching tool for clients and students. The owner, an acoustical consulting firm, decided on LEED-CI certification because of the belief that acoustic comfort could be achieved while simultaneously meeting other LEED requirements (e.g., design, products and materials, construction methods, and operations). Recently, acoustical requirements have been adopted into various LEED rating systems because occupant acoustic comfort in many LEED-certified buildings has been poor. The organization responsible for LEED, the US Green Building Council, is taking steps to more comprehensively adopt acoustical standards throughout their portfolio. By using the LEED Innovation in Design (ID) Pilot Credit Library, projects can attempt to achieve a wider range of potential credits. One of those credits, Pilot Credit 24, addresses acoustic comfort, including sound isolation, speech privacy, background noise, and reverberation time. The project is one of the first to achieve Pilot Credit 24 requirements. This paper will discuss the project design objectives, Pilot Credit 24 requirements, and how the project achieved those requirements.