Acoustically effective façades

Abstract

Today’s city centres in European metropolitan areas are comprised of facades made of steel, glass and stone. These hard reflective facades are amplifying the perception of noise sources by human ears in their vicinity. Up to now in building designs this effect is neglected. Thus the number of people harmed by noise is increasing with the increasing noise levels on the streets caused by more and more hard reflective facades. To obtain control on urban acoustic spaces the focus of architects and engineers must be shifted to acoustics parameters. Several case studies in course of this research give evidence for the possibility of controlling the impact of noise sources on an urban space with modified facades. The experience and results of the case studies were merged to deliver a plot of a process chart for implementing the acoustical point of view in a building design process. Laboratory methods e.g. scale model measurements and impedance measurements were modified in order to be feasible in a building or facade design process. As with modified reflection properties of facade surfaces a sound reduction of up to 8 dB for specific frequency bands is feasible the building of quieter cities is in the responsibility of architects and engineers.