Weatherhead Schools BASWA®phon installation begins
The Case Western Reserve's Weatherhead School of Management represents another architectural landmark by Frank O. Gehry & Associates (FOGA), well known for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and other noted buildings. The Peter B. Lewis building, named for the chairman of Progressive Insurance, the nation's fifth largest auto insurer and the major financial contributor, is located in University Circle, home to Cleveland's famous world famous museums and the Cleveland Orchestra. (View video)

In Figure 1 and 2 one can see the intricate interior, compound-curve, galvanized steel, stud wall systems developed by GQ Contracting, Wickliffe, Ohio, a certified BASWA®phon installer. This custom metal stud substructure will be covered with two layers of 5/8" drywall to provide sound isolation in the classrooms. Then the taped drywall surfaces will be treated with BASWA®phon. The first step, which involves gluing on the precoated BASWA®phon panels begins the first week of January.

Stay tuned for more information as this project progresses.

Reverberation time, diffuse reflection, Sabine, and computerized prediction - part I and II
RPG offers a tutorial to explain the effect of diffusion reflections on reverberation. RPG is frequently asked what the effect diffuse reflections have on reverberation time. Since acousticians are used to using Sabine, Eyring, Fitzroy and Arau-Puchades to calculate reverberation time using absorption coefficients, it is natural to ask if there is an equation that can incorporate diffusion. The short answer is that all of the above mentioned equations already assume a totally diffuse sound field, so the real question is "How does one calculate reverberation time correctly when the sound field is not diffuse or mixing?" One answer to this lies in the use of computer prediction programs, which properly take into account diffusion. One of the initial findings of round robin experiments comparing experimental measurements with computer predictions was the absolute need to include diffuse reflections. Today, diffuse reflections are attempting to be modeled in commercial programs. CATT Acoustics has been on the forefront in diffusion modeling and so we have asked the creator of CATT Acoustics, Bengt-Inge Dalenback, to write a tutorial that we will run in two parts on our website. RPG has been doing its part to experimentally measure and theoretically predict the diffusion coefficient and there have been significant advances in the creation of a method to measure the random incidence scattering coefficients, specifically to be used by the computer modeling programs. Therefore, with these data close at hand, I encourage all acousticians to read this tutorial to advance the accuracy of the computer prediction of reverberation time and the other objective parameters.

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BASWA®phon featured in home theater on This Old House
At some point or another all of us have watched This Old House. The Emmy Award winning This Old House is television's premier home improvement series. The show that unlocked America's passion for home improvement, celebrates its 22nd anniversary season on PBS this year. This Old House's mission is to demystify the home improvement process and to celebrate the fusion of old world craftsmanship and modern technology. Each season features two renovation projects. Project One traditionally consists of eighteen or so episodes and is filmed in Massachusetts. Project Two is taped in a different region of the country to highlight the variety of American architectural styles and renovation issues. Additionally, the second project is generally located in a town with a mild climate where outdoor work can be undertaken in the winter months. We have all enjoyed watching the staff consisting of host Steve Thomas, master carpenter Norm Abram, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey and general contractor Tom Silva.

Project One this year is The Manchester House, owned by Janet and David McCue.

RPG was brought into this renovation by John Storyk of WSDG, Highland, NY who is responsible for the home theater design in the living room. The room will be used for both viewing movies and live piano recital. Storyk selected BASWA®phon to treat the existing focusing upper ceiling areas. The installation of BASWA®phon is now complete and will be presented in a series of programs listed below. Please consult local stations for airing times.

Please read more in an informative article by John Storyk.

Installation Photos:

NPR This Old House programs featuring BASWA®phon

Program #2113
Roger Cook and crew have begun to tear up the old asphalt driveway in preparation for a newly configured one. Painter John Dee shows Steve his approach to restoring the turn-of-the-century portico: some stripping of existing features, and some replacement of those decorative elements - brackets and capitals - that are simply not salvageable. Homeowner David McCue tells Steve about his desire to install an outdoor hot tub, for his two boys to enjoy alone or, importantly, with him, and Steve takes him to see the one Steve installed in his own backyard for the exact same reasons. Back at the site, Tom and our master carpenter use - and approve of - polyurethane exterior trim, while Steve joins acoustical consultant John Storyk as he works with David to tackle some of the sound issues in the new music room. Our master carpenter and Tom discuss the state of the original diamond-paned bumpout, its usefulness as a place for plants, and the possibility of replacing it with a proper greenhouse. To research the concept, architect Steve Holt shows Steve around a nearby guest house he designed, complete with a very high-end conservatory.

Program #2116
The last of the wallboard has arrived, including 1/4" bendable board for the music room's curved ceiling. Lighting designer Susan Arnold shows Steve the many choices in recessed downlights, including the ones picked for the kitchen, which electrician Peter Woodbury is installing. In the basement, Richard Trethewey explains the plumbing setup to homeowner David McCue, who is eager to understand which part does what and what he should and should not do when interacting with his house's heating plant. Painter John Dee shows Steve the progress on the portico restoration project; his latest achievement is making a mold to cast missing pieces of the decorative plaster. Roger Cook shows Steve the three patios he and his crew have built, then takes Steve to a nearby nursery where he and landscape architect David Hawk lay out, at full scale, David's proposed planting plan for the turning island in the new driveway. Back at the site, Tommy and our master carpenter put up a new porch column made from expanded polyurethane and given bearing strength by a core of steel tube.

Program #2117
Steve drives down to the house, checking out the newly opened vistas of the house and yard through the newly bare trees along the road. Inside, the study and dining room are shaping up, with blueboard on the walls and the old fireplace rehabilitated. In the music room, the dramatic coved ceiling is getting the first part of its acoustical plaster system: fiberglass panels coated with plasterlike coating that's invisible to sound, allowing the panels to absorb unwanted echoes while maintaining a traditional look. Acoustician Peter D'Antonio explains the multi-coat system to Steve. Our master carpenter checks out the new aluminum half-round gutters manufacturer Augustin Crookston and his crew are hanging from the roof shingles. Steve sees John Dee's slow but steady process on the portico restoration; today he's installing new plaster brackets to replace the originals, which were too deteriorated to salvage. Steve takes viewers to the Chicago factory where they were made, the same way they have been for 100 years. Finally, Roger Cook shows off the new back patio, made up of massive pieces of Goshen stone.

Dr. D'Antonio publishes continuing series on new architectural acoustical tools in Archi-Tech magazine.
Welcome to ARCHI-TECH. Subtitled, "Bridging the Gap Between Design & Technology." This magazine has been created specifically for architects, systems designers and integrators for commercial and residential buildings. The purpose is to provide critical information surrounding the all-important business of integrating technology into building design and architecture. With an emphasis on commercial and residential buildings, the editorial purpose is to inform, educate and help establish a comfort level among architects with systems integration. Each issue provides cutting-edge feature stories, state-of-the-art product and industry information, news, trends, advice and success stories in the areas surrounding commercial and residential building design and technology.

The first installment of Dr. D'Antonio's serialized contribution appears in the Residential issue September 2001 issue, Volume 4, No. 5 entitled New Acoustics: Sound Diffusors. in the new ArchiTech Residential. Subsequent articles will cover New Optimized Surfaces, New Absorptive Materials, Desktop Auralization.

RPG add reverberation chamber and impedance tube measurement capabilities at headquarters

RPG adds absorption measurement capabilities down to 10 Hz to its diffusion measurement capabilities With the publication of the AES-4id-2001, the acoustical community is now aware of the various measurement goniometers RPG has developed and the many years of research that have gone into creating a measure of scattering. Acousticians can now utilize this diffusion coefficient to evaluate potential diffusing surfaces. RPG also uses the diffusion coefficient in our Shape Optimizer, which combines an architectural motif with desired scattering performance, to create custom shapes for performance facilities. Please consult our website for more information.

RPG is also very much involved in bringing innovative absorptive and diffsorptive products to the acoustical community. These products include our new absorptive plaster called BASWA®phon, absorptive Topakustiks® and Topperfo® wood systems, diffsorptive slotted FlutterFree® (described in Diffuse Applications) and the binary amplitude diffsorber (BAD™ panel). To assist in the development and testing of these new absorptive and diffsorptive products, RPG has recently added a reverberation chamber, several impedance tubes providing absorption coefficients from 10 - 5000 Hz and a flow resistance apparatus to complement its diffusion testing goniometers.

The reverberation room measures 10' x 14' x 19', which is capable of providing good statistical absorption coefficients down to roughly 200 Hz. To extend our capability to measure absorption coefficients down to 10 Hz, we have also added a 7 ton, 2'x2'x24' impedance tube using the two-microphone method according to ISO 10534-2 and ASTM E1050-90. This new impedance tube gives us the capability to document the performance of materials in the sub-100 Hz region, not accessible currently using the reverberation room method. This information is sorely needed in recording studios and home theaters, where subwoofers are routinely used. We are also developing additional impedance tubes to study small homogeneous samples over the rest of the audio spectrum. This approach will be used to study and continually develop BASWA®phon. Since we get so many questions on the applicability of various fabrics to cover our BAD™ panels and diffusive products, we will also be adding a flow resistance tube to quantify fabric performance.

We invite the acoustical community to visit us for our Diffuse Seminars and use these facilities for research.