WeWork recently expanded their newest office space to Tampa, Florida, providing a co-working space with high-end amenities and luxury finishes, in the heart of bustling downtown.

With these luxury features come some downfalls in terms of acoustics. In many of the rooms, hardwood flooring finishes combined with gypsum ceilings provided a reverberant space, not conducive for telecoms and seminars. In these team rooms and shared work spaces where acoustic performance was most pivotal, Commercial Acoustics installed high-end Zintra Acoustic Panels. These panels matched the luxury aesthetic that WeWork sticks to in its co-working spaces across the country.

Installing the Panels

While acoustic wall panels are normally cut and wrapped at the factory and then installed at the location, these panels were a bit different. For this particular brand of panel, the material itself is dyed the desired color, so no fabric wrap was needed. Also, Zintra panels are made of 100% polyester compared to the usual fiber glass panels we use.

Unlike many standard 1″ or 2″ fabric-wrapped acoustic panels with NRC ratings from 0.8 to 1.05, the 1/2″ Zintra Panels perform in the lower 0.3-0.5 range. However, with enough square footage acoustic treatment, and in relatively small rooms, this treatment is sufficient to bring the reverb time in the space down below 0.8 seconds.

This type of panel can see an increase in NRC rating when mounted with an air gap between the wall and the panel, but that’s not what was required in this installation.

Zintra Panels are field-cut to the precise dimensions of the built space. While factory cuts are optional, construction tolerances generally require that they be cut with T-squares in the field to prevent overlaps or inconsistent gaps. There were a lot of obstacles for this job, which is why the panels needed to be cut on site. Overall, cutting these on site and then installing them was the best option due to objects that would end up being hung on the walls such as white boards and televisions.

Office Acoustic Panels

Acoustic treatment in office spaces is really dependent on the function, layout and finishes in the space. In this case, because the WeWork office was designed with reflective surfaces, acoustic treatment was desired.