Facility Design Consulting
Over the past 30 years we have provided architectural consulting services and facility design consulting services relating to criteria development, and design detail, for floor vibration, floor stiffness, room design, magnetic field, acoustic noise treatments, STC, NC, and VC-criteria requirements, and the specific needs of our clients. We also perform tests, analyze the data, explain the issues, and design solutions to solve problems with Vibration , Acoustic Noise, and Stray Magnetic Field/EMF in rooms, manufacturing floors, research labs, industrial processing spaces, office space, and residential areas.
As consultants on architectural and facilities teams, we have worked on the vibration, magnetic field, and acoustic design aspects of new buildings to be used for research and development of cutting edge semiconductor tool development, with very strict floor vibration and acoustic noise requirements. People choose us not only for our architectural vibration and acoustics design, but also because we have consulted for
decades on the engineering development of these tools, performed the testing and have written many of their environmental specifications.
We have also work on the architectural vibration and acoustic noise details of office spaces for companies such as Google and Youtube, to help meet their unique requirements. We have provided engineered architectural solutions in situations where machine noise from offshore oil rigs made the living quarters unbearable, and where the lunchroom noise of a company interferes with work space productivity. We have provided acoustic solutions for sites where a work space was so quiet that it was uncomfortable, designing a custom sound environment to make the space no longer feeling stifiling and uncomfortable.
In recent years new construction techniques are resulting in longer floor spans which lead to large low frequency floor resonances and higher vibration levels. New layouts with open floor plans can lead to unexpected issues with room acoustics as well.
We work with Facilities Engineers and Architects to Create the Right Acoustics for Sensitive People and Sensitive Equipment
Understanding the flow of acoustic noise is a unique skill set we bring to the table, along with the tools to model, measure, characterize, and interpret the key components of the disturbing sound field. It is important to understand that the flow of acoustic noise is frequency dependent and involves the spectra of the disturbing sound, the frequency dependent absorption and reflectivity of the surface materials, as well as the geometry of the site.
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We perform both modeling and dynamic testing of floor systems to quantify the rigidity of the floor, resonant frequencies, and modal coupling to other areas of the floor system and building. We perform Finite Element Analysis (FEA), numerical modeling, as well as experimental testing, involving vibration testing and Modal Analysis of floor systems and building structures to determine modal coupling and deformation shape.
Floor System Modal Analysis of University Genomics Lab
The analysis of this testing is used to make tool site selections, place vibration sources in the least vulnerable locations, and often to aid in the design of structural modifications to solve dynamics issues.
Comparison of Floor Vibration Levels with Sensitive Semiconductor Inspection Tool Specification
We often will perform acoustic tests to estimate the parameters of the existing room acoustics, such as the amount of existing sound absorption, then model the room and experiment with various acoustic treatments to create the desired room acoustics.
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As part of architectural teams we add top notch expertise to ensure critical design details relating to vibration and acoustics are in place and meet the needs and requirements for the proposed used of each space in the building structure.