DAGA 2012 venue
Room acoustic requirements of modern learing spaces
At the DAGA 2012, 19-22nd March in Darmstadt, Germany Holger Brokmann had a speech about modern learing spaces and the acoustic requirements.
Since the 70s there are research schools in germany (f. e. Laborschule Bielefeld) which try out different types of learning and use of school buildings (mostly open, no doors between learning areas). After over 30 years those “new” types of learning are used more and more in all kinds of “normal” schools. The acoustical requirements are different in comparision to a traditional classroom.
For those rooms you do not find – in some European acoustical standards – specific values or detailed acoustic parameters (f.e. in Austria and Germany) other coutries are giving numbers for RT (f.e. Finland) or different parameters like STI, LAeq dB(A) or A/1m² (f. e. England and Wales , Sweden). A deeper look at the more detailed Danish standards and building regulations in comparision with actual measurements from the well-known open space school “Hellerup School” in Copenhagen shows that the acoustic requirements are not easy to fulfill and that an open space learning environment has to deal with something more: The people who are working and living in these buildings. A good building needs also a concept on how to use it (cf. Understanding acoustics in open and semi-open learning spaces; Bridget Shield, Emma Greenland & Robert Conetta; MSc. Claus Møller Petersen Grontmij A/S: Hellerup School – Denmark Acoustic challenges in a 3 storey open-plan school – EIAS 2011).
Therefore more interdisciplinary research has to be done to define the important acoustical parameters which should be used in building regulations and standards.
Click here to watch how the semi-open plan school Berufliche Schulen Witzenhaysen is experienced from an acoustic and learning perspective
For more information contact Holger Brokmann “>Holger Brockmann Concept Developer, Education Permises Germany. Saint-Gobain Ecophon gmbh
