Yarra Valley Grammar – Art, Design & Technology Building

The project involved construction of a new three-story art, design and technology building. Octave Acoustics was involved at an early stage in the project to help guide the acoustic design and ensure that noisy technology workshops and machine rooms were appropriately located and treated to provide significant separation from the art, visual communications, photography and textile studios. The project made extensive use of glazed partitions and sliding doors to the learning spaces which were arranged around a central informal learning area. Many of the studios were also separated from one another by sliding doors. The specification of these sliding doors was carefully considered using proprietary acoustic sliding door systems to ensure that a high level of sound separation was achieved between adjoining learning spaces.

An important aspect of the acoustic design was to ensure that teaching spaces and informal learning areas satisfied the applicable reverberation time requirements. This required computer modelling of rooms, taking into account room geometry and the characteristics and placement of furniture and surface finishes. This modelling resulted in a design incorporating highly-absorptive mineral fibre and slotted plasterboard ceilings in addition to acoustic pin-board strategically applied to walls. A particular challenge of the project was development of a solution for the mitigation of a dust extraction for compliance with the applicable EPA noise limits. A solution was found in close collaboration with the mechanical consultant by selecting a relatively low noise unit which was compatible with a proprietary acoustic outlet attenuator in conjunction with the implementation of an acoustic plant screen.