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]

Yeah. Bacteria, I never new those pub blokes to be particularly clean.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your comments.

Hey, do you think I could use this for a wall :
http://www.scott-fyfe.com/products/stitch/PolymatHi-Flow.htm



Could it be the fabric wall with a structure inside??

Thanks for your answer again...

[Dwight]

that product is for lightweight fibreglass construction. You form it and coat it with fiberglass in a mould. Like a boat.

The exterior is strands of glass. If you touch it, tiny strands break off and go under your skin. A great product for soundproofing the nursery. And since the babies will all be crying, it is a good thing. [joke]

This is not an architectural product. It is not acoustic, either because it is too flat - acoustic products need larger pores.

[Anonymous]

Hello again

Imagine:
In a room, I have -like a wall- a passage of air (36cm large) between two 3mm glass panels (and concrete panels at the two other extremities) /

And this passage is repeated at the same place on every levels /

It's like a passage of air between glass panels that separates every rooms... and that is -the entire height of the building- high... /

I hope you understand... ermm

WELL, so what could be the effect of this high glass passage in the building???

THANKS FOR YOUR ANSWER/HELP....

[Aussie John]

I would think it needs to be firerated if it links floors of a multi storey building. Is is supposed to be a light well?

[Anonymous]

charlotte wrote:
- 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?

Knoll makes a product called "Imago" that consists of a piece of fabric encased in some sort of polymer so that it is rigid. I doubt it's useable for anything structural, but certainly makes wonderful interior partitions. They will make the product custom as well as having stock patterns.

I have no idea what its sound transmission characteristics are, but an email to Knoll should answer that question. I doubt it has any sound blocking capabilities, though.

There may also be chemical treatments for fabric that can make it rigid, but I wouldn't know where to point you for that. I can't think of the name of the designer at the moment, but there's a popular modern chair made entirely of knotted rope that is quite rigid but still gives some. If I remember correctly, it is made by dipping the rope into some kind of carbon fiber stuff that solidifies, but I could be misremembering. Still, it would be a place to start to investigate the process you might be able to use.

Suzanne Tick, the designer of Imago, might be a good person for you to speak with as she's done a lot of research into unusual fabrics made of an assortment of materials such as metals that might at least theoretically have some rigid enough properties that they might stand up.

Now that I think about it, another possibility is very heavy felt. That can be shaped and secured in ways that will form partitions and entire rooms. Look up Kuth/Ranieri Architects in San Francisco for a project example. It's not on their website, so drop them a note and inquire about their SFMOMA exhibit.

I really doubt you're going to find any way to use fabric alone and still get any kind of realistic sound attenuation, though, simply because the structural characteristics of fabric are diametrically opposed to the requirements for acoustic control. It's almost going to *have* to be fabric covering something else. Look into acoustic treatments for spaces like auditoriums and the like for ideas of things you could back it with.

HTH.

Wendy
Hoechstetter Interiors

[Anonymous]

charlotte wrote:
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?

I imagine you could accomplish this by designing a rigid shade that retracts into a double thickness wall like either a vertical pocket door and covering it with leather or whatever fabric you wanted, if you can figure out a way to keep it open. It would basically be a vertically opening door. Sounds like an expensive window treatment, though.

Wendy

[Anonymous]

Wendy,
Thanks a lot for your answers!! that is so useful!! thanks again...

Ok I'll try to contact KNOLL... (but their server's website doesn't work right now)

** According to you, do you think their product called "Imago" could be curved? (like a wheel in the space, or like a horizontal tube in the space if you prefer)

** And what should be the thickness of these textile panels? (I was thinking of 5cm but is it correct?)

THANKS A LOT TO ANSWER ME AGAIN!!

Cordially,

[Anonymous]

Aussie wrote:
I would think it needs to be firerated if it links floors of a multi storey building. Is is supposed to be a light well?

John,
thanks a lot for your answer about my passage of glass.
Indeed it could be a light wall but I wanted to separate the rooms with this passage to block the sound between the rooms. Do you think it could work??

And what do you mean by "firerated"? If I put some IPN steel beams in the passage (in the width) at the floor level, is it ok??

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

Cordially,

[Aussie John]

Charlotte. depending on the type and size of building , elements in it generally need to be resistant to fire. Steel inits raw state is poor and will collapse undr a fire load and as such needs to be encased or coated.
The glass idea could work acoustically it would be like having two windows but 3mm sounds a bit thin (physically and acoustically)