A mixed-use landmark with acoustics and colour
Delivering acoustic comfort across offices, a library, a café and a gym in a Welsh town-centre.
The library art wall, built from Rockfon Eclipse acoustic panels in NCS-matched council colours, turning sound absorption into the centrepiece of the space.
A flagship for Pontypridd
Llys Cadwyn, meaning Chain Court, is the centrepiece of a £200m regeneration of Pontypridd in South Wales. Three buildings on a tight riverside site, combining offices, retail, a modern library, café, gym and community facilities under one scheme.
Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council commissioned Darnton B3 Architects to design it. Two of the buildings are glazed, with colourful sun-deflecting fins facing the river. The third stands in contrast, an organic curved shell clad entirely in shimmering zinc tiles. Across all three, over 9,500m² of Rockfon acoustic ceilings and wall panels were installed.
With so many different functions under one development, each space needed its own acoustic approach.
Different spaces, different acoustic needs
The challenge was variety. The upper-floor offices are mostly open-plan, where sound travels freely and noise builds across the floor. Independent research shows improved acoustics in these environments reduce stress by 27% and increase focus by 48%.
The library needed genuine quiet. The café, gym and community spaces needed acoustic solutions tough enough to handle heavy daily use.
On top of that, the architects had a clear visual requirement running through the whole project: the least visible grid possible, so the acoustic solutions would perform without drawing attention to themselves.
Meeting all of that meant specifying the right Rockfon product for each space.
Project info
Project name
Pontypridd Riverside Development
Location
Pontypridd, United Kingdom
Architecture
Installation
Photography
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Rockfon Blanka across the open-plan office floors, absorbing sound and reflecting daylight where improved acoustics measurably reduce stress and improve focus.
Rockfon Blanka Bas in a meeting room, improving speech clarity for clearer conversations.
Rockfon Koral in the washrooms, chosen for its durability and fire performance.
A product for every space, and a feature wall
The centrepiece sits in the library atrium, between the children's and general reference areas, where the council wanted sound control and visual impact in equal measure.
"We agreed to create a feature art wall using a selection of colours influenced by the council's own corporate identity. The completed design works really well, delivering the visual impact and sound control we desired," said Martin Hurley, Project Architect at Darnton B3.
The wall uses Rockfon Eclipse acoustic panels in NCS-matched council colours, with a fixing kit that sets each panel at a different depth, turning sound absorption into a design feature.
Elsewhere, each space got what it needed: Rockfon Blanka throughout for sound absorption and bright, light-reflective interiors, Blanka Bas in the meeting rooms for speech clarity, Universal Baffles for quiet in the library, and Koral in the washrooms and lobbies for durability. In the curved zinc building, white circular Eclipse islands hang from wires as if floating.
“We agreed to create a feature art wall using a selection of colours. The completed design works really well, delivering the visual impact and sound control we desired”
Andrew Pearce
— M&P Group
Rockfon Universal Baffles delivering the sound control a public library depends on.
Delivered across a compact riverside site
Coordinating installation across three buildings on a constrained city-centre site brought its own challenges, with deliveries needing to arrive on time and in order throughout.
"The project came together well and everyone is very pleased with the completed job," said Andrew Pearce of installer M&P Group.
Also working on a mixed-use development where very different spaces each need their own acoustic solution? Get in touch, and we'll help you find the right approach for every space.
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