We like to sing the virtues of modern acoustic control products whenever we get the chance, and a recent office renovation in Shanghai’s iconic Henderson Metropolitan building gives us the opportunity to do just that. Whereas in the past, office designers and interior designers could find themselves limited or off-put by needing to fit bulky acoustic panels, cases like this show how today’s acoustic panels can not only fit into creative visions, but can bolster them. Let’s get stuck in!
Suspended Acoustic Panels
In the above pictures, one can see how acoustic panels have been installed in a mosaic formation, over a large break room area. The panels are a light brown, and vary in size, lending an interesting pattern to what would ordinarily be a grey, somewhat industrial-looking ceiling whose dominant feature is ducting. The layout helps situate the strip-lighting such that it doesn’t feel intrusive or out of place.
In these pictures of a smaller break room, the panels can be seen complementing the overall colour tones of the room, reflecting the lightwood hues of the floor, balanced by white walls. Their box-frame composition gives the pattern texture and depth.
Wall Panels
In these small meeting rooms, acoustic panels are barely noticeable, despite their taking up most of the wall space. In the first picture a custom-cut and coloured panel appears just to be a wall decal, while in the second, the panels are cleverly integrated as lighting fixtures.
Here, groove cut acoustic panels line the walls of a corner meeting room, balancing the smooth surface of the ceiling with a texture of vertical lines. Patterns like this on walls can have the effect of making the ceiling seem higher than it actually is, making the meeting space feel spacious and open.
Baffles
Meetings held on the large table above could be an aural nightmare, without balanced acoustic control. Given the size of the room, and its open-plan format, it would be easy for noise from working desks, and people walking by, to interrupt and make unclear what’s being spoken about at the table. Similarly, colleagues in other parts of the room could easily feel interrupted by whatever is being spoken about at the large table. The baffles suspended from the ceiling, much like those made by Zenfeel, will go a long way to mitigate these issues, while providing a colourful flourish to the overall design of the room.
How to start
This office in the Henderson Metropolitan has done a great job integrating acoustic control products in a way that’s both visually and functionally appropriate. For existing offices, or offices that are being planned that require acoustic treatment, however, it can be difficult to know where or how to start. This is where Zenfeel’s product line and our advisors can come in handy. Not only do we produce products like those featured above, from coloured panels to baffles, suspended acoustic panels to groove cut panels, but we have experience supplying and installing them adaptively, making sure they fit the needs of any project.