Case Study

Art Wrapped Acoustic Panels Zoo Tampa

Posted on by Acoustics Expert
Art Wrapped Acoustic Panels
03
Jan

Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park was remodeling their new sponsor room, for the entertainment of their sponsors when they attend events at the zoo.  They planned for a grand entry room featuring an AV presentation welcoming the donors to the zoo.  However, the room they were converting, finished with drywall and tile floors, lacked any reverberation mitigation. In addition, the facility needed several educational murals posted in the entry way.  Commercial Acoustics fabricated and installed plain fabric wrapped panels as well as information art wrapped acoustic panels to solve the sound issue.

wall mounted acoustic panels
As you can see here, the team installed 4’x8′ bevelled panels to mount on the walls and ceilings. Smaller panels were required in tight spots near obstructions such as the television and air vent.

Panels installed on three walls of the room greatly improved the speech intelligibility in the space and enjoyment of the AV presentation. The art wrapped acoustic panels offered educational infographics for any of the less attentive viewers who might allow their eyes to wander.

See Also: When to Use Sound Absorbing Panels

Acoustic Panel Fabrication and Installation

All of the installed panels, solid and art wrapped, were 2 inches thick and bevelled for a more decorative appearance. The 2 inch thick fiber glass acoustic panels have a noise reduction coefficient, or NRC, of 1.05. NRC is a measure of how much of the sound waves are absorbed vs how many are reflected/pass through the material. For example, a material with an NRC of 0.8 absorbs 80% of sound waves and the other 20% are either reflected or pass through the material.

Panels are wrapped in acoustically transparent fabric that has no impact on the fiber glasses’ sound absorbing abilities. The art for the printed panels is printed using a process called dye-sublimation so it doesn’t impact the acoustic transparency of the fabric. We can print essentially any image on fabric this way as long as the photo resolution is high enough to keep the picture clear the larger it gets.

Results of Acoustic Treatment

The installation of wall and ceiling panels resulted in a significant reduction in reverberation time in the space which ultimately improves speech intelligibility and overall guest experience.

Acoustics Expert