SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Visual and Acoustic Comfort

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Visual Comfort

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Lighting Quality – Visual Comfort

Illustrations by Elisa Géhin. Image Courtesy of Saint-Gobain

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 Lighting Quality – Visual Comfort
• Colour of light
• Colour rendering
• Light distribution (direct or
diffuse; modelling)
• Freedom from glare
• Luminance distribution
(consideration of surface
qualities together with the
lighting of these surfaces)

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 Lighting Quantity – Visual Comfort
• Visual comfort and efficiency can be ensured by the control of
luminance distribution within the visual field.

Both too little and too much light can cause visual
discomfort. Important changes in light levels or
sharp contrast (which is perceived as glare) can
cause stress and fatigue as the human eye is
permanently adapting to light levels.

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Recommended Illumination

Recommended illumination and limiting glare index (based on IES Code, 1968)

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Illustrations by Elisa Géhin. Image Courtesy of Saint-Gobain

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 Glare
• Glare is a subjective human sensation that
describes ‘light within the field of vision that
is brighter than the brightness to which the
eyes are adapted’ (HarperCollins 2002).

Effects of glare :
• injures the eye
• disturbs the nervous system
• causes annoyance, discomfort & fatigue
• reduces efficiency of work
• interferes with clear vision
• risk of accident increases

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 Glare Index
• The CIBSE glare index is a
system for the evaluation of
discomfort glare defining two
methods of calculation:
– The calculation of the glare
index based on a formula.
Lj-Luminance of the jth glare source
– The finding of the index Lb-Average luminance of the field of view
from tables based on the
Pj-Position index of the jth glare source
photometric data as
supplied by the luminaire -Subtended area of the jth glare source
manufacturer.

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 Unified Glare Rating
• Unified Glare Rating or UGR method is an
international index presented
by CIE (International Commission on
Illumination) and is used to evaluate and
limit the psychological impact of direct
glare from luminaries.

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 Glare Control
• Glare from windows can be prevented by
using :
– curtains
– blinds
– louvers
• Techniques for minimization of glare from
luminaires :
– not locating luminaires in forbidden zone
– increase light from sideways
– luminaires having large surface area

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Illustrations by Elisa Géhin. Image Courtesy of Saint-Gobain

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Illustrations by Elisa Géhin. Image Courtesy of Saint-Gobain

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Visual Comfort Strategies

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Visual Comfort Strategies

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Acoustic Comfort

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 Sound and Noise
• Sound – desired and designed for
• Noise – unwanted and designed out

– We live and work in the environments of

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 Decibel Measurements
Decibel (dB), unit for expressing the ratio between two physical quantities, usually for measuring the
relative loudness of sounds.

Zero decibels (0 dB) is the quietest sound audible to a healthy human ear. From there,
every increase of 3 dB represents a doubling of sound intensity, or acoustic power.

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 Why Acoustics Matter
• Impact of the built
environment
– (humans = noise)
• More density = more noise
• Public health and patient
recovery
• Privacy and solitude
• Worker satisfaction and
increased productivity

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Transmission Path

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 Sound & Noise Concerns
– Too much noise outside the building entering the
space
– Too much noise from adjacent spaces, and
– Lack of sound control in the space itself.

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 Environmental Noise Impacts
• Sleep disturbance
• Speech interference
• Occupant annoyance
• Reduced worker productivity
• Prolonged patient recovery

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 Architectural Acoustic Concerns
• Environmental Noise
• Mechanical/Equipment
Noise
• Structural Vibration
• Speech Privacy
• Room Acoustics
• Sound Isolation

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Absorption Coefficient

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 Reverberation:
• This prolongation of the sound in
the room caused by continued
multiple reflections is called
reverberation.
• When room surfaces are highly
reflective, sound continues to
reflect or reverberate.
• A high reverberation time will
cause a build-up of the noise level
in a space.

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 Reverberation Time
A reverberation time that is optimum
for a music program could be disastrous
to the intelligibility of the spoken word.
Conversely, a reverberation time that is
excellent for speech can cause music to
sound dry and flat.

The reverberation time of a room or space is defined

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 Reflections
• Reflected sound strikes a surface or
several surfaces before reaching the
receiver.
• These reflections can have unwanted
or even disastrous consequences.
• Domes and concave surfaces cause
reflections to be focused rather than
dispersed which can cause annoying
sound reflections.
• Absorptive surface treatments can
help to eliminate both reverberation
and reflection problems.
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 Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC)
• The Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC)
is a single-number index for rating how
absorptive a particular material is.
• It is simply the average of the mid-
frequency sound absorption
coefficients (250, 500, 1000 and 2000
Hertz rounded to the nearest 5%).
• The NRC gives no information as to
how absorptive a material is in the low
and high frequencies, nor does it have
anything to do with the material’s
barrier effect (STC).

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 Sound Transmission Class (STC)
• The Sound Transmission Class (STC) is a
single-number rating of a material’s or
assembly’s barrier effect.
• Higher STC values are more efficient
for reducing sound transmission.
• For example, loud speech can be
understood fairly well through an STC
30 wall but should not be audible
through an STC 60 wall.

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Environmental Noise Control

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 Acoustic Measures
Site Selection:
• Understanding Outdoor activities
• Avoid sites in high noise areas
• Ensure compatibility with existing facilities
– Eg: do not site a school in an industrial area.
• Determine the future use of surroundings.
– if future buildings are acoustically incompatible
with yours, significant remediation measures
may be necessary to return the interior sound
environment to an acceptable level.

Source: www.wbdg.org & www. pbsionthenet.net

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 Acoustic Measures
Site Planning:
• Setting up Distance
• Non-residential elements as buffers
• Buildings acting as shields
• Building orientation away from noise

Source: www.wbdg.org

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 Acoustic Measures
• Room arrangement
• lay out the building so
that restrooms,
mechanical and
electrical equipment
rooms, and other less
noise-sensitive spaces
are adjacent to the
roadway.

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 Acoustic Measures
• Use of Solid Walls
• The use of solid walls means, to
use a wall with fewer openings.
• Having an opening in walls will
reduce its efficiency in noise
control. The openings in the forms
of windows or doors that are
facing directly towards the noise,
would welcome noise into the
building.

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Acoustic Measures

Source: https://i.pinimg.com

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 Acoustic Measures
• Building Height and
Massing

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 Acoustic Measures
• Proper Arrangement of Balconies for
Noise Control
• Balconies provide access to the
external environment as well as
ventilation in the form of light and air.
• Balconies have higher exposure to
outside environment.

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 Acoustic Measures
Having Courtyards for Noise Control
• Having courtyards helps in reduction
noise control in buildings.
• They provide an acoustical privacy
through shielding effect .

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ABC of Acoustics

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 Office
• Common problems
– inability to have private
discussions
– can hear sounds through
partitions
– too noisy in room
– can hear sounds from air
return registers
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 Open Office Environments
• Acoustical problems have surfaced in
open office environments causing
employees distraction, stress, and
interference with telephone
conversation and normal work routine.
– The Center for the Built Environment
(CBE) at U.C., Berkeley conducted post-
occupancy Evaluation (POE) of 15
buildings by 4,096 respondents in a
variety of office configurations. Over 60
percent of occupants in cubicles think
acoustics interfere with their ability to
get their job done.
Source: www.wbdg.org

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ABC of Acoustics in Open Office Space

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 Office
• Solutions
– Extend walls from floor to
structural deck above.
– Insulate partition cavity/increase
partition sound transmission class
(STC).
– Specify NRC of 0.75 for ceiling
tiles.
– Employ ducted air return system.
– Do not locate mechanical
equipment rooms next to offices
and conference rooms.

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 Classrooms
• Typical Problems
– outside of the school (vehicular
traffic and aircraft flyover)
– the hallways (foot traffic and
conversation)
– other classrooms (amplified sound
systems and inadequate partition
sound transmission loss)
– mechanical equipment
(compressors, boilers, and
ventilation systems), and
– inside the classroom itself
(reverberation).

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 Classrooms
• To reduce noise from adjoining classrooms, do not have doors adjacent to each
other or have doors directly across from each other. Rather, offset the door
locations to extend the sound travel path from one classroom to the next. This
strategy works well with conference rooms and private offices as well.

LEED v4
• HVAC Noise - 40 dBA (prereq), 35 dBA (credit)
• Reverb Time:
– Option 1 – NRC of 0.70 for acoustical finishes
– Option 2 – Calculate to meet ANSI S12.60
• Sound Transmission (Credit)
– Interior Partitions
– Exterior Windows

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 Glazing

Source: glass centre ltd

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 Glazing

Source: glass centre ltd

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Thank you

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