Enclosed street / Sound barriers
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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