The practical SoundLab for architects: sound parameters as a design tool

The experience gained from exploring the subject of Acoustics with architectural students in Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland) suggests that a studio situation can be exploited and used as a case study for young designers to become familiar with basic sound phenomena. From phase 1 of previous research, the student "audiovisual design workshop" concluded that class rooms, that perform poorly acoustically, can help to strengthen the students' understanding of the sonic environment, in a way that the students were exposed day after day to high reverberation, low speech intelligibility, and the "Lombard" effect in their own studio. However, becoming aware of poor acoustics necessitates a creative follow-up: how to design and create good acoustics, or how to develop the environment as a "soundscape"? Consequently, phase 2 of our audiovisual design workshop introduced the practical sound lab: our students were required to design and to build acoustic panels for their own studio environment. These "prototypes" would be analyzed as part of an Acoustic Laboratory, with specialist advise.