For projects in Frankfurt
Cinema and multiplex soundproofing in Frankfurt
Screens stacked beside and above each other, each running full range at high level. Bleed between auditoria is the failure everyone hears, and it is decided by the shell, not the finishes. Concert halls, church buildings and civic Saal spaces are long-reverberation rooms where any intervention has to be reversible and visually disciplined.
- Screen to screen
- Independent construction between auditoria, with services broken at the line.
- In room response
- Heavy absorption on side and rear walls so the mix is heard as intended.
- Plant and projection
- Equipment noise into the auditorium, treated at source.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / What it is
The material, and what it actually does on a Frankfurt job
Screens stacked beside and above each other, each running full range at high level. Bleed between auditoria is the failure everyone hears, and it is decided by the shell, not the finishes.
Concert halls, church buildings and civic Saal spaces are long-reverberation rooms where any intervention has to be reversible and visually disciplined.
Work reaching us from Frankfurt is mostly tower office floors, trading and call floors, data and plant rooms, hotels, studios, clinics.
- Towers full of glass Full height glazing, raised floors and exposed slabs give sound nothing to land on. The ceiling has to do most of the work, and it has to do it without breaking the design.
- Speech privacy is a business requirement On banking and trading floors the issue is not comfort, it is who can hear what. Absorption plus masking beats absorption alone every time.
- Plant rooms and equipment halls Generators, chillers and cooling plant sit close to occupied space and close to neighbours. Mass and a resilient break do more than any lining.
- Screen to screen Independent construction between auditoria, with services broken at the line.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for cinema soundproofing are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Frankfurt.
02 / The build-up
The build-up, layer by layer
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Layer 1
SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
A limp, high density sheet that adds mass to a partition, floor or duct without adding depth. In Frankfurt, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard in newer stock, so duct-borne noise and terminal unit noise are the sources rather than open windows.
Floor, floating. Membrane under a resilient layer and a floating deck, so impact energy is broken before it reaches the slab.
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Layer 2
Acoustic panels
The full absorber range rather than one product: plain PET felt, printed felt, grooved panels and fabric finishes, chosen by how the room is used and how it has to look. In Frankfurt, concert halls, church buildings and civic Saal spaces are long-reverberation rooms where any intervention has to be reversible and visually disciplined.
Mixed finish. Plain felt where it is out of eye line, printed or grooved where it is seen.
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Layer 3
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Frankfurt, school and university buildings are built to a high thermal standard with hard, cleanable surfaces. Speech clarity in classrooms and long corridors is where the acoustic budget goes.
Zoned. Carpet in the circulation and meeting zones, hard floor elsewhere, so the treatment sits where the noise is made.
Architects working in Frankfurt usually need the build-up before the product. We will draw the section and mark what does the work. See how we support architects.
03 / What drives the brief
The Frankfurt conditions that change the answer
- Towers full of glass
Full height glazing, raised floors and exposed slabs give sound nothing to land on. The ceiling has to do most of the work, and it has to do it without breaking the design.
- Speech privacy is a business requirement
On banking and trading floors the issue is not comfort, it is who can hear what. Absorption plus masking beats absorption alone every time.
- Plant rooms and equipment halls
Generators, chillers and cooling plant sit close to occupied space and close to neighbours. Mass and a resilient break do more than any lining.
- Trade fair and hotel programmes
Messe dates do not move. We give honest dispatch and transit windows so a fit-out is not sitting waiting on a container that will not land in time.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Concert halls, church buildings and civic Saal spaces are long-reverberation rooms where any intervention has to be reversible and visually disciplined.
04 / Room by room
Room by room, on a typical Frankfurt job
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Screen to screen
Independent construction between auditoria, with services broken at the line. Full height glazing, raised floors and exposed slabs give sound nothing to land on. The ceiling has to do most of the work, and it has to do it without breaking the design.
- Soundproofing materials, 2100 kg per cubic metre. 2.5 mm STC 30 at 5.25 kg per sq m, 4 mm STC 34 at 8.4, 6 mm at 12.6
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 4 mm
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
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In room response
Heavy absorption on side and rear walls so the mix is heard as intended. On banking and trading floors the issue is not comfort, it is who can hear what. Absorption plus masking beats absorption alone every time.
- Soundproofing materials, 1800 x 900 x 20 mm, 100 kg per cubic metre, NRC 0.85
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
- PET felt acoustic panels, 1220 x 2440 mm standard, 4 x 8 ft
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Plant and projection
Equipment noise into the auditorium, treated at source. Generators, chillers and cooling plant sit close to occupied space and close to neighbours. Mass and a resilient break do more than any lining.
- Soundproofing materials, Mass, then decoupling, then cavity absorption, then sealing
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
- PET felt acoustic panels, 2440 x 4270 mm, 2.44 x 4.27 m, 8 x 14 ft
Interior designers tend to arrive with the look already decided. We will tell you which finish gets there without losing the acoustics. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Conditions
Durability in Frankfurt, before acoustics is discussed
Frankfurt is cool and damp, with long heating seasons and cold external walls, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Cold wall build-ups and long heating seasons mean interstitial condensation is a real risk behind any lining. PET felt is unaffected by damp air and will not feed mould where a fabric-faced mineral product would.
The failure we design against here is condensation behind linings in older, poorly insulated stock.
Where a consultant is already engaged on a Frankfurt project, we supply to their specification and send the test reports rather than describing them. More on working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Worth knowing
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
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A shared service void running across the wall line
A treated wall under a bare hard ceiling gives you a fraction of the reduction you paid for, and the room still sounds wrong.
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Treating the auditorium to fix bleed from the next screen
Small on the drawing, expensive on site, and almost always found after handover.
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Doors and lobbies specified late and undersized
A gap undoes the partition it sits in. Sealing is the cheapest line on the quote and the first one to get cut.
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Treating it as a generic Frankfurt job
Full height glazing, raised floors and exposed slabs give sound nothing to land on. The ceiling has to do most of the work, and it has to do it without breaking the design.
05 / Logistics
How material reaches a Frankfurt site
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Hamburg or Rotterdam by sea, or Frankfurt airport when the date demands it |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea, or air into FRA |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order.
Sea freight into Hamburg or Rotterdam, then road along the Rhine corridor. Air freight into Frankfurt for samples, replacements and genuinely urgent quantities.
Questions from Frankfurt projects
What makes cinema and multiplex soundproofing different in Frankfurt?
Concert halls, church buildings and civic Saal spaces are long-reverberation rooms where any intervention has to be reversible and visually disciplined. Full height glazing, raised floors and exposed slabs give sound nothing to land on. The ceiling has to do most of the work, and it has to do it without breaking the design.
Where should the budget go first on a Frankfurt project?
Screen to screen. Independent construction between auditoria, with services broken at the line. In room response. Heavy absorption on side and rear walls so the mix is heard as intended.
Do you have an office or installation team in Frankfurt?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Frankfurt. We give you drawings, build-ups, a BOQ and material that arrives complete, and we will tell you plainly when a job needs a local contractor we cannot be.
How does material get to a Frankfurt site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Hamburg or Rotterdam by sea, or Frankfurt airport when the date demands it, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order.
What goes wrong most often on this kind of project?
A shared service void running across the wall line. Treating the auditorium to fix bleed from the next screen.
What do you need from us to quote?
A plan, a section through the critical partition or ceiling, and what the room is for. From that we can give a build-up and a BOQ rather than a price per square foot.
Next step
Tell us the room, we will tell you the build-up
We quote from drawings, not from a square foot rate. Send a plan and the section through the critical wall or ceiling and you will get something you can actually build from.