Re: Oh, no! (Cielings Div.) | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Joani Blank (jeblankic.org) | |
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 17:41:02 -0500 |
No Paul, I wasn't touting all that glass at Old Oakland, nor all the too-much-glass we have at Doyle Street either. Glass is always a liability when it comes to acoustics. Certain drapes or even some shades can be sound-absorptive, but then you'll only want to close them on winter evenings when dinner time is after dark. Someday someone will design some transparent sound absorptive material, and then we can have as many windows as we want and still have relatively quiet common dinners. Any inventors out there? The ceiling height at Doyle St. and at Old Oakland are preset--determined by the existing buildings we renovated(doyle st.) or are restoring (old oakland--I use that term because Swan's Market is an historical landmark, placing myriad limits on what we can and can't do if we want to keep the City of Oakland happy and, more important, have the project as a whole be eligible for historic tax credits.) What we are doing at Old Oakland is covering the ceiling (between existing joists (is that what they are called?) with acoustic material (Textum or something similar). This is a significant expense for an amenity which we didn't even consider eliminating when projected costs rose dramatically a few months back. I would like to strongly ditto what Judy says about the factors in common dinner attendance. Frankly, I think if everything else was working, people would keep coming to common dinners even if it was noisy. Nevertheless, I think common dining area acoustics are really worth all the attention you can give them, and the best acoustic treatment you can afford. As far as numbers and dining room space is concerned Katie and Chuck recommend "regular" or "everyday" seating for approx.70% of residents (don't forget kids) if the community is less than 20 households, approx. 60% if it is from 20 to 30 households, only 50% if the community is bigger than 30 households (verbal info from Chuck today). Then you will want space to be easily expandable/convertible to 100% of residents plus guests for special occasions. Joani Blank Doyle St. and Old Oakland Cohousing
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