to the architects

[Anonymous]

Hello

I'd like to ask the architects:

- imagine you live in a box made of glass, can you hear the noise around outside the box? a lot?

- imagine you live in a box made of textile, is it possible to build? is there any textile (like 'intelligent' textile) we can use as a wall and that could be able to stop the noise , as well as a dividing wall in plaster for example?



THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!! ... even if these questions seem stupid!

[Dwight]

One layer of glass resonates.

Three layers of glass with the outer layers in the same plane and the middle layer canted is the acceptable way to sound-insulate a glass box. Special effort must be made to securely seal all edges because sound comes thru cracks.

If you can seal fabric to the passage of air, you can begin to build a soundproof box. Think "fluffy with a goopy coating on the outside."

I did a broadcasting studio for my final project at architecture school. Back when broadcasting used tubes.

[Anonymous]

thanks very much for this answer!

If you can seal fabric to the passage of air, you can begin to build a soundproof box. Think "fluffy with a goopy coating on the outside."

oops, I don't really understand what you mean... could you describe more? where is the textile? the glass?......

thanx again
(don't forget i'm french haha )

[Anonymous]

+
PS: and a layer of textile between two layers of glass, is it possible? good? sound-insulating?

thanx

[Dwight]

if you mean a layer of woven fabric - no.
if you mean fluffy insulation - no.


princilpes of sound insulation are:

1: sealing - no cracks or air movement
2: mass - heavy things absorb sound energy
3: asymmetry- oblique things disrupt sound waves

Faced with your wacky situation, I'd be using heavy glass and a rigid panel - see Kalwall

http://www.kalwall.com/main.htm

pilkington:

http://www.pilkington.com/international+products/activ/usa/english/default.htm

[Anonymous]

and.... you wrote

If you can seal fabric to the passage of air, you can begin to build a soundproof box. Think "fluffy with a goopy coating on the outside."

I don't really understand what you mean... could you describe more? where is the textile? the glass?......

thanx

[Dwight]

fabric is not a good sound insulator when used as a divider.

You need heavy, asymmetric sealed rigid surfaces to insulate from airborne sound.

[Anonymous]

ok thanks.

hey, actually I'd like to make a bedroom surrounded with textile... that's why i ask so many questions... perhaps I need a special structure?

and do you know where I could find on the internet some examples of sun roof (like the one in leather for the cars) I could use vertically for the walls of this bedroom ?

thanks for your answer

[Dwight]

Hmm.
A glass panel that moves, in the roof of a car, turned vertical so that it slides upward to open?
Hmm.
In North America, we call that a "window."

Perhaps you mean "shutters?" My hotel in Paris had a lttle button there, where a rolling panel would come down to keep out the late night shrieks of the drug addicts. And their customers. The shutter worked well for light, too. I never knew people would set their hair on fire like that.
No, wait. That was London.

http://www.shutters-online.web.com/rolling.html

[Anonymous]

I didn't mean a glass panel that moves, in the roof of a car....
but a leather (or other fabric) panel that moves in the roof a car.

have you seen this, thick and turned vertical 'so that it slides upward to open' automatically?

thx