ACOUSTICS A4628 SPRING 2017

Reflective and textured metal paneling on the walls of the Avery elevator

acoustically sealed doors at the new black box theater at Columbia expansion campus

Floor-blanket; Chair- soft wool felt, foam, wood; Ceiling-wood; Wall Panel-wood

This split-conference room contains an acoustically treated dividing wall that has details on the floor and ceiling joints to minimize sound travel between rooms.

The building that I am living in is a rather old building. Most of the divisions are light weight panels without sound isolation material, so I always hear the sounds from the other rooms, sounds of TV and low frequency noises for example. The floors seem to be partially hollow, so the sound of footstep is really loud and is easily transmitted to the adjacent rooms. I often hear the footstep clearly from the corridor and the floor above my room.

The thick velvet curtain and the sound isolating wood floor help absorb sound. High wall and ceiling panels help disperse sound back to the lower portion of the auditorium. 

The NY Public Library which was established in 1895 shares the same architectural elements as the old concert halls. Stone (sound reflective) material at the bottom, glass openings (allow sound to exit the room) at the middle and detailed ceiling (sound dispersing) at the top. If the argument of a library is to minimize the sound produced inside and not diffuse it around the room then how would a library be if all materials used (from furnitures to walls) were sound absorbing ones just like a Sound Room is designed?

St. John the Divine Cathedral: The vaulted hallway ceiling reflects sound created in hallway back down to the floor and to the walls. The ribs in the vault slightly disperse the sound. The vault and the ribs in the main space are much farther away from the listener so while the trajectory of the sound is similar it travels back to their ears much later than in this space thus creating a very different experience. 

Stairs of my apartment & noise level. 

Brick walls in my apartment reflect sound.

The pipe is evidently not soundproof, and no sealant seems to be in place. As a result, I can clearly hear my neighbor’s playing Iggy Azalea’s Bounce out loud...

The street under the Brooklyn Bridge has a much more reverberant environment compared to otherwise, and is very loud because the metal amplifies and disperses all sounds and is not absorptive at all. 

This is a street close to central park, while one side of the street is the park and another side is the building, the building side, especially in some of the corners , you could see more reflected sound in here while on the other side, the sounds are different while there is not reflection

Went to Barrymore Theater in New York, The ceiling has a fillet curve, which allow the sound to reflect into all different angles and the decorations of the wall become more sophisticated from bottom to top, which also allows sound to reflect more back and forth around the ceilings to the second floors

Acoustic panels on the ceiling of an art gallery to prevent sound reverberation