Use of a micro acoustic chamber for rapid iterative design, teaching, and demonstration in the development of innovative lower-carbon mass timber assemblies

Abstract

Mass timber construction offers a range of benefits to the design industry, including the potential for sustainability and reduced building embodied carbon, biophilia, speed of assembly, and prefabrication. However, these benefits can create acoustical challenges for sound isolation between spaces. Thus, the University of Oregon’s Institute for Health in the Built Environment, in collaboration with the TallWood Design Institute, has developed a micro acoustic chamber as a conceptual testbed, educational resource, and demonstration tool for design professionals and students, to develop new and innovative mass timber acoustic assemblies, understand acoustic implications of material choices in composite form, and comparatively analyze the performance of acoustic detailing decisions more rapidly at a small scale. The chamber hosts specimens that are 813 mm × 813 mm and up to 300 mm thick, far smaller than a typical laboratory acoustic floor/ceiling assembly test chamber, creating known limitations; however, test samples can be cost and material efficient, allowing relative performance differences between assemblies to be evaluated quickly and easily for initial design feedback. This presentation will share how the use of a micro acoustic chamber has been integrated into design education, student, and industry pilot research to accelerate the development of mass timber acoustic solutions.