Kimbrer Computer, Aars

Reducing noise to enhance productivity

It places high demands on acoustics when former industrial premises are transformed into modern office environments while preserving the raw look. The architects at Bjørk & Maigård, therefore, chose to manage the reverberation time in the premises with acoustic rafts, when they transformed a 2,500 square meter warehouse building at Aars into a new office domicile for Kimbrer Computer.

Annoying noise is a challenge in many workplaces and can result in both sick days and reduced productivity. For example, researchers at DTU have shown that the ability to work due to noise in the office can be reduced by 10-15 percent. And if you have to perform complex tasks such as complicated calculations in noisy environments, the error rate increases by up to 35 percent.

- The challenges are especially great when former industrial buildings have to be transformed into open office landscapes. Concrete surfaces provide a high reverberation time in the rooms, which are subsequently filled with people talking, holding meetings and talking on the phone. Therefore, extra high demands are placed on the acoustic solutions if you also want to maintain the raw look with visible concrete constructions.

This is what architect Hans Maigård, who is a partner in Bjørk & Maigård Arkitekter ApS, says. The design studio has designed the renovation of a former industrial warehouse building of 2500 square meters at Aars for Kimbrer Computer ApS together with engineer Svend Poulsen A / S. And it was especially the acoustics that required attention in the project, as the offices also had to be divided by glass sections from floor to ceiling.

Industrial office design with visible installations

Here, the architects , therefore, chose to use project-adapted Rockfon Eclipse acoustic rafts, so that you could ensure good room acoustics on the premises without compromising on the raw design that the client wanted. At the same time, a high degree of flexibility was achieved, as the fleets can easily be moved around via the rail system, eg if the room distribution is to be changed later.

- The acoustic rafts are suspended from the ceilings, so you can look all the way up to the technical installations from the floor. Their white surfaces make them stand out razor sharp, and we have therefore also used them to mark zones with workplaces, says Hans Maigård.

- The solution is particularly suitable for projects where you have large open rooms with lots of concrete and glass indoors. It is a very flexible system, where the location of the rafts can be completely adapted to the need, and you can, for example, also mount the rafts with staggered heights, so that an additional visual effect arises, explains project consultant at Rockfon Jeppe Kjærgaard.

Contrast and balance with acoustic ceiling design

The architects' starting point for the design of the new office has been contrast and balance between the raw and the clean, heat and cold, the industrial and the natural, light and dark, etc. Therefore, the former warehouse's concrete beams and concrete floors have been preserved. at the same time added elements of, among other things, ash wood.

The entire first floor of the building has been transformed into an office landscape with a meeting room, canteen, lounge area and an open atrium. A longitudinal axis marked with wooden floor divides the office and also marks both bar, atrium, meeting room and an alcove. There are also wooden panels where walls and ceilings meet, just as ash strips have been used on the base of the atrium.

- The whole thing is meant to form a kind of symphony, where all elements, from the acoustic rafts to the wood panels, contribute something unique to the look of the room and at the same time have a crucial function in the whole, Hans Maigård concludes.