Enclosed street / Sound barriers | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Fred H Olson (fholsoncohousing.org) | |
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:13:51 -0700 (PDT) |
Mike Mariano & Grace Kim <mike [at] schemataworkshop.com> are the authors of the message below. It was posted by Fred the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org> after fixing the subject line. -------------------- FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS -------------------- 1. Re: enclosed "street" between homes (David Hornick) 2. Sound Barriers [was Enclosed "street" between homes (Sharon Villines) 1) Enclosed Street The Windsong covered street (unfortunately) is permanently vented with opennings at the ridge, and the angle of the glass is a very efficient reflector for noise from the adjacent highway directly into the space. It is a common complaint of the residents and they continue to struggle to find an economical solution. The explanation given for this design was that it was required by the fire marshall. A system of smoke & fire dampers may have satisfied the fire marshall and acoustic issues, but would have increased the construction cost. There are exceptional covered street projects in Denmark- some have already been covered by Katie & Chuck in their publications. Favorites of Grace & I are Drivhuset and Aadalen 1. These two communities and others are posted on our website as a result of some of our Danish cohousing research during the Fall 2004. Select "Gallery- Danish Cohousing" in the lower right: http://www.schemataworkshop.com/site/research.php The covered street in both Aadalen and Drivhuset is simply an economical greenhouse-type glass structure (not entirely weather-tight) but provided a well-used, year-round connection from the individual homes to the common house. When we arrived at Drivhuset on a stormy Sunday afternoon, the rain was pouring down and we were pleasantly surprised to see most of the residents sitting in the covered street outside their unit reading the paper, conversing, doing homework, painting, etc. The residents viewed and treated their "outdoor" space as an additional room to their homes. 2) Acoustic Isolation Retrofits For retrofitting a floor-ceiling assembly for better acoustic isolation between units, our Daybreak cohousing client (Portland, OR) found this product: http://www.kineticsnoise.com/arch/isomax/index.aspx There are less expensive resilient channel (RC) products available (which is what we always end up with), but this one appears to eliminate a lot of the problems that I've seen with poor contractor installation, e.g., drywall screws are too long and short-circuit the acoustic isolation. It's also critical that the wall and ceiling planes are separated by an acoustic sealant joint so that sound is not transmitted between surfaces. The RC installation helps with both STC (low frequency noise and vibration)and IIC (impact noise) ratings, but all of those ratings are assembly and material-specific. Mike Mariano & Grace Kim michael mariano, aia architect & principal schemata workshop, inc. an architectural collaborative v 206.285.1589 http://www.schemataworkshop.com
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