Spectrum invited on architectural visit to education sites in Scandinavia

03 May 2017 by Nick Treby, Director

Principal Consultant, Nick Treby, of Spectrum was invited by Saint-Gobain Ecophon UK to provide acoustic insight on an architectural visit to several education sites in Sweden and Denmark. The trip was for architects and related fields, so included project managers and an FFE specialist.

The visit was to three sites – Hellerup School (just north of Copenhagen), IT University of Copenhagen (which included a visit to the renowned student accommodation Tietgenkollegiet) and Kunskapsskolan (a school in Helsingborg, Sweden).

Hellerup School is interesting as it is wholly open plan. A large central atrium featuring the famous Hellerup Steps is used for assemblies, music, a library and all kinds of other work. The atrium feeds off on several levels to zones of the building used for classes, though pupils are not overly restricted on where they have to work. The school is full of sound absorption, which means the expected reverberant environment does not exist, and helps to minimise the degree of disturbance between activities. Though teachers do have to be careful to not schedule conflicting activities because of the acoustic propagation in the building, the strategies in the architecture fits the school’s pedagogical approach, where teaching is project based and pupils are encouraged to work on themes of their own choice, using resources of their choice, wherever in the building they choose.

Hellerup School open plan space
IT University in Copenhagen features a large atrium space, with gallery areas overlooking the atrium. The key acoustic issue here has been to control the atrium environment, which has been done with acoustic absorption on the underside of walkways and at high level. It is noticeable that as you move up levels in the building, the reverberation appears to decrease. This is because the main acoustic absorption is at higher levels.

IT University in Copenhagen featuring large atrium spage with gallery areas overlooking the atrium

The related Tietgenkollegiet accommodation is an attractive circular building. Whilst not notable for the acoustics, the precise centre of the courtyard can produce an astonishing echo as sound reflects off the facades. The echo is not noticeable when you stand even just a few metres off centre. It highlights the difficulties that can occur in circular spaces!

Tietgenkollegiet accommodation in circular building

Kunskapsskolan is a school created by a change of use. Again, a central Atrium has included sound absorption with innovative fins to create a pleasant space that can be used comfortably for children to eat together. Large glass partitions help with daylight to classrooms and to corridors. The glazing does not appear to be acoustically enhanced, and so we think that acoustic standards here would be lower than in the UK, where glazed partitioning is anyway often ruled out of publically funded schools on account of cost. However, the school operates comfortably – there is some transfer of noise, but it is not overly intrusive.

Kunskapsskolan School atrium with sound absorption fins

Technical specialists can offer significant value to a scheme’s design as we can help end users and designers to understand how a building will sound and feel when it’s in use. It was great to be able to bring that perspective to those on the visit. However, we also need to work hard to understand the constraints under which other disciplines operate, and so it was a tremendous opportunity to appreciate design limitations on the architects too.

Spectrum has an extensive track record on the acoustic design of schools, colleges, universities and all spaces used for education and would be happy to get involved in your projects to help you create great sounding buildings.

Nick was the guest of Saint Gobain Ecophon UK and Ireland, and was accompanied by Rider Levett Bucknall, Curl la Tourelle Head, Space Zero and Scott Brownrigg.

Spectrum invited on architectural visit to education sites in Scandinavia