The unrivalled performance of Acoustica’s VyBar® makes it perfect for reducing machinery, compressor and engine noise in manufacturing plants!

Acoustica VyBar® is a rigid laminate noise barrier which has been specifically engineered for machinery enclosures, plant rooms and vibrating machinery. VyBar® has a unique material construction which unlike many other insulation materials, results in high sound absorption coupled with resilience and compression loading capability. VyBar® effectively treats the often-combined phenomena of vibrations, sound transmission and sound reverberation encountered with most noise problems. VyBar® is an extremely robust aluminium faced insulation with an indefinite life that is unaffected by oil, water, hydrolysis and vibration; it does not shed fibres, nor will it delaminate.

With its indefinite life, VyBar® is an economical material that effectively reduces sound radiation & sound transmission in the critical frequency region of rigid panels (such as, steel, fibreglass, aluminium, etc).

VyBar® is fire rated according to AS1530.3:

• Ignitability Index (0-20) = 0
• Spread of Flame (0-10) = 0
• Heat Evolved Index (0-10) = 0
• Smoke Developed Index (0-10) = 0-1

Service Temperature: -50 to 120C

Sound transmission loss

Hook and Hang School bag hooks, coat hooks and for extra storage are a curated collection of intriguing contemporary hooks for hanging. Students require accessible, easy to use, durable systems to store their belongings when entering the classroom. This not only reduces clutter and minimises tripping hazards, but also keeps school work and uniform items safe form damage. In addition, getting organised relies on establishing a maintaining good habits and systems. An organised classroom is a successful classroom, as an organised student often equals a successful student.

Within the modern learning environment, it is now commonly known that the environment, layout, colour selection and use of space elicits certain reactions from its occupants. So think about the best colour, arrangement and style of hooks to best suit the requirements of the individual school environment.

The quality of the physical environment is paramount, as is the quality, safety and durability of the furniture. Tomako manufactures various ranges of table support systems including pedestal bases, disc bases, folding tables, table frames and pedestal legs, along with fixed height seating. The ways in which the space is designed, equipped and organised significantly influences the student’s interaction with the space and resources. Tomako provides a made to order option to ensure that the space is customisable. High quality physical learning environments should include both indoor and outdoor learning spaces. The Tomako range is ISO14001:2004 certified, 100% Australian made.

Low maintenance materials should be used to keep maintenance costs to a minimum and to maintain a good quality appearance for long periods of time. Therefore, building systems, materials, and finishes with minimum replacement costs are optimal. Maximising efficiency, increasing productivity and containing costs are key.

An example of an area where operational performance can be a costly to maintain if not considered when selecting materials is washrooms. How would you select the right system or components for toilet partitions? If it is a high traffic area, then it needs highly robust and impact resistant solution. Typically 3 material options are available in Australia. The first and most commonly used is compact laminate. 13mm Multipurpose Compact Laminate is the preferred material to be used in toilet & shower cubicles within educational buildings. This is due to its strength and durability. To ensure dimensional stability, a top rail is required which negates the flex in the product. Compact laminate can also be used for benchtops and wall lining. When selecting materials for wall linings in washrooms, 5mm compact laminate is a low budget but effective option for wet areas and high traffic areas. Unlike ceramic tiles, compact laminate is far less susceptible to cracks and damage.

Acoustica floor underlay is available in different variations to suit flooring substrates and materials. AngelStep^® features unique patented technology that combines a sound absorber with impact and vibration damping to consistently achieve up to the highest 6-star acoustic rating dependent on installation.

AngelStep^® GOLD8 is a universal acoustic underlay optimised for all types of floors from timber to bamboo, carpet, parquetry, cork and vinyl. Underfloor heating compatible, AngelStep^® GOLD8 combines a high-density sound absorber and cross-linked microcellular foam for maximum performance. Its aluminium gold facing can be used up or down for a variable underfloor feel. Dependent on the floor finish, Acoustica will advise if an intermediate layer such as plywood or fibrous cement substrate will need to be installed.

To ensure maximum acoustic performance from the AngelStep^® range for your project, Acoustica can provide site specific testing and certification, in accordance with International Standard ISO Acoustics.

AngelStep^® acoustic underlays have been proven to achieve up to AAAC 6 stars rating which is far greater than the minimum BCA standard of AAAC 2 stars. Acoustica doesn’t just use lab tests to make these claims to promote the performance of the various AngelStep^® underlays, they have always used independent acoustic engineers to test the products in ‘real life’ situations, therefore ensuring the claims are correct and certifiable. When the strata criterion requires a AAAC 5 or 6 star rating for the finished floor, an Impact Acoustic Test must always be completed to ensure compliance. When choosing an acoustic underlay, be sure to choose the correct AngelStep^® product that not only achieves the highest impact rating but is also suitable for the intended application.

As education facilities evolve into more flexible spaces, operable walls and sliding doors are more frequently specified. An operable wall divides available space enabling flexibility whilst sound rated panels still allows for effective noise control. When sound waves strike a partition, some are reflected from the surface staying in the same room as the source of the sound. Some are absorbed by the material of the partition, being converted to heat energy and some are transmitted to the other side. When a plenum barrier is used, the sound blocking performance of the wall or door increases. When positioned above interior partitions that stop at the height of the suspended, acoustic ceiling, a plenum barrier board stops noise and speech from traveling between rooms through the plenum above the ceiling.

Flexible and efficient space utilisation is becoming a must. Intelligent solutions are needed to facilitate multifunctional room configuration combined with openness when required –and transparency as well. Operable wall systems give the benefits of natural light along with sound insulated rooms.

In classrooms, poor acoustics put a strain on teachers’ voices and on student’s learning. The trend to use harder surfaces, e.g. glass, metal and concrete, which reflect sound, further adds to the problem. This design approach creates reverberant rooms which subsequently affects how well a teacher is understood as well as the students ability to concentrate. Another complication is the mix of old and new school buildings in many cities that are not up to current standards for today’s acoustical recommendations. Schools built before the 1970s used many hard surfaces and had very high ceilings, further magnifying the acoustics problem.

When it comes to speech intelligibility  young children, in particular, experience difficulties in understanding speech in highly reverberant rooms. Providing an environment designed for clear sound through the right reverberation helps student comprehension. Efficient communication can only be accomplished with low reverberance, lack of echoes and high speech intelligibility – in other words, sound control with high-performing sound-absorptive ceilings. Rockfon ceiling solutions reach the highest level in sound absorption for optimum speech intelligibility.

Sound isolation prevent distractions from next door. To prevent noise from one room disturbing students and teachers in adjacent areas, acoustic standards and guidelines require learning spaces to be separated by sound isolation walls. This proven design approach leads to productive and distraction-free learning. Suspended, modular, or acoustic ceiling systems alone, are simply not able to block sound if the walls between learning spaces stop at the height of the ceiling. This is in part due to noise leaks caused by lights, grilles and diffusers penetrating the ceiling system. But the main reason is that acoustic ceilings do not have enough mass to block sound effectively. All Rockfon stone wool products are UL/ULC certified for NRC.

Fire safe, sustainable and beautiful: Meet Mjøstårnet, the world’s tallest timber building, and the latest example of a growing trend in countries like Canada, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Mjøstårnet in Brumunddal, Norway. Photo from Moelven Limtre A/S. Photographer: Anti/Jens Edgar Haugen

Rising 85.4 meters above Brumunddal, Norway, about 1.5 hours north of Oslo is the latest entry in the ‘world’s tallest timber building’ category, Mjøstårnet.

Like the previous record holder, the 53-meter Brock Commons Tallwood House in Vancouver, Mjøstårnet is made of a combination of cross-laminated timbre (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (GLT), two kinds of engineered wood products common in tall timbre construction.

A combination of desirable traits

There are a few primary reasons for the growing use of wood to make tall buildings, particularly in places like Norway, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland—the sustainability profile of the wood compared to other materials; the design flexibility and beauty of it; and finally, the fire safety.

“Mjøstårnet is built to withstand a complete burnout,” says Evan Andersen, Fire Safety Engineer for Sweco, the structural engineer on the project. “Our tests and calculations show that Mjøstårnet will not collapse, even after a severe fire. With all its safety measures, it’s safer than most buildings,” he says in this short video about the project.

Those fire safety measures include ROCKWOOL’s non-combustible insulation in the inner and outer walls and floors, which contribute to creating effective compartments to contain a fire should one arise.  Proper fire compartmentalization is essential in giving building occupants more time to evacuate and fire brigades more time to extinguish the fire.

Sustainability, built-in

Sustainability is another key selling point in the trend toward taller timber constructions.  In countries like Norway and Canada where trees plentiful, the energy used to process, produce and transport the timber is actually lower than concrete and steel. What’s more, the subcontractor that supplied the wooden structures to the building also plants at least two trees for each tree it uses on its projects.

The result is a stunning piece of architecture—it won Gold at the New York Design Awards 2018—with a desirable combination of safety, sustainability, good looks and functional performance.

“We are proud to have been involved in such a prestigious project and to be able to contribute to the fire safety and sustainability profile of Mjøstårnet as well as its thermal and acoustic performance with both our stone wool insulation and our Rockfon acoustic ceiling tiles,” says Henrik Frank Nielsen, Head of Insulation for Northeast Europe, ROCKWOOL Group.

Project background:

Work on the 18-story mixed-use Mjøstårnet tower began in mid-2017 and was completed in March 2019. It has a combined floor area of 11,300 square meters and includes apartments, a hotel, offices, restaurant and a rooftop terrace overlooking the fjord. It has since earned international attention, including winning a Gold at the New York Design Awards 2018.

Fire safety achieved in several ways:

•The CLT and GLT wood is one; the thickness and arrangement of the beams is such that they will retain their load-bearing abilities during a severe fire and burn very slowly.

•Each room and floor is also a fire compartment, designed to prevent a fire from spreading;

•Sprinkler systems throughout the building;

•Fire strips that expand to protect steel joints from heat and;

•More than 5,500 sqm of ROCKWOOL non-combustible stone wool insulation in the inner and outer walls and floors.

Michael Zarin

Vice President, Group Communications

Mobile: +45 40 84 15 26
Email: michael.zarin@rockwool.com

Lafeme brings intelligent toilets to the Australian market. Improvements in health and hygiene are the most common benefits of the smart toilet. Considered an innovation in health and personal care due to the functions offered, with intuitive technology, the intelligent toilet is now becoming a must have in bathrooms nationwide. Lafeme intelligent toilets offer heated seats, built in bidets with customisable washing and drying functions, temperature control, LED lighting, automatic opening and closing of lid, and automatic flush. With an increasing commitment to health and personal care, Lafeme Smart Toilets offer the best solution for complete personal hygiene and ultimate wellbeing.