For projects in Manila
Office acoustics and soundproofing in Manila
Three separate problems get called one problem: speech carrying across an open floor, meeting rooms that leak, and hard rooms that ring. Each has a different answer and mixing them up is how budgets get wasted. Split units and VRF running at full load year round, with condensers close to occupied rooms.
- Open plan
- Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk.
- Meeting rooms
- Privacy between rooms. That is partition and door work, not panels.
- Cabins and calls
- Short RT so a call sounds clean. A small amount of well placed absorber.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / Start here
What this material is and where it earns its place in Manila
Three separate problems get called one problem: speech carrying across an open floor, meeting rooms that leak, and hard rooms that ring. Each has a different answer and mixing them up is how budgets get wasted.
Split units and VRF running at full load year round, with condensers close to occupied rooms.
Work reaching us from Manila is mostly service and call centre floors, offices, condominium towers, hotels, hospitals, schools.
- Concrete towers, hard interiors The structure blocks well. The problem is tile and glass making the room ring, and impact passing down through slabs.
- Hundreds of simultaneous conversations A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
- Typhoon season and humidity PET felt does not absorb moisture, rot or feed mould, which matters where mineral products sag within a season.
- Open plan Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for office acoustics are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Manila.
Office and conference room acoustics Acoustic office screens
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
-
Layer 1
Ceiling baffles and clouds
PET felt suspended from the soffit, vertically as baffles or horizontally as clouds. In Manila, split units and VRF running at full load year round, with condensers close to occupied rooms.
Vertical baffles. Hung on edge in rows. Both faces absorb, so coverage figures based on plan area understate them.
-
Layer 2
PET felt acoustic panels
A rigid non-woven panel pressed from 100% polyester fibre, a large part of it recycled. In Manila, church buildings, gymnasiums and function halls carry amplified speech and music in hard volumes.
On a 25 to 50 mm air gap. The same panel on battens. The air gap moves absorption down in frequency at no extra material cost, and is the cheapest improvement available.
-
Layer 3
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 Manila, classrooms are hard and naturally ventilated with very large class sizes and open corridors.
Ceiling first. In most rooms the ceiling is the largest untreated surface and the cheapest square metre of result.
For a Manila practice, the useful thing is a detail you can put in a drawing set, not a brochure. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
What the buildings in Manila do to the specification
- Concrete towers, hard interiors
The structure blocks well. The problem is tile and glass making the room ring, and impact passing down through slabs.
- Hundreds of simultaneous conversations
A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
- Typhoon season and humidity
PET felt does not absorb moisture, rot or feed mould, which matters where mineral products sag within a season.
- Traffic outside, all day
Street noise reaches rooms through glazing rather than walls, so the facade is where the first money should go.
- Plant and HVAC
Split units and VRF running at full load year round, with condensers close to occupied rooms.
04 / Room by room
Room by room, on a typical Manila job
-
Open plan
Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk. The structure blocks well. The problem is tile and glass making the room ring, and impact passing down through slabs.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 100% PET non-woven, no added binder
- Acoustic panels, 1800 x 900 mm, image printed into the felt rather than onto a facing
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
-
Meeting rooms
Privacy between rooms. That is partition and door work, not panels. A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mm standard, tolerance plus or minus 5 percent
- Acoustic panels, Cut pattern in PET felt, adds visual rhythm without changing the absorber
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 12.6 kg per sq m, STC on request
-
Cabins and calls
Short RT so a call sounds clean. A small amount of well placed absorber. PET felt does not absorb moisture, rot or feed mould, which matters where mineral products sag within a season.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 5 x 1.2 m, 6 sq m per roll
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Durability
What the Manila climate rules in and rules out
Manila is warm and humid through most of the year, with a long wet season, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Humidity is the deciding factor. PET felt does not absorb moisture, shed fibre or feed mould, which is why it outlasts fabric-wrapped mineral wool in this climate. Wood wool and timber need a ventilated cavity behind them.
The failure we design against here is mould, sagging fabric finishes and swelling in timber.
Where a consultant is already engaged on a Manila project, we supply to their specification and send the test reports rather than describing them. More on working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
Six mistakes that turn into a second fit-out
-
Lining every wall while leaving the ceiling bare
A treated wall under a bare hard ceiling gives you a fraction of the reduction you paid for, and the room still sounds wrong.
-
Treating a privacy problem with absorption
Privacy is a transmission problem. Absorption makes the room sound nicer and does not stop anyone hearing through the wall.
-
Glass cabins specified without a door and head detail
Soundproofing fails at the gaps, not the materials. One unsealed service penetration can undo a correctly built wall.
-
Treating it as a generic Manila job
The structure blocks well. The problem is tile and glass making the room ring, and impact passing down through slabs.
05 / Logistics
How material reaches a Manila site
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Manila, then a short road run to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Manila |
| 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, not after.
Sea freight into Manila, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Manila projects
What makes office acoustics and soundproofing different in Manila?
Split units and VRF running at full load year round, with condensers close to occupied rooms. A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
Where should the budget go first on a Manila project?
Open plan. Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk. Meeting rooms. Privacy between rooms. That is partition and door work, not panels.
Do you have an office or installation team in Manila?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Manila. 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 Manila site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Manila, then a short road run to site, 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, not after.
What goes wrong most often on this kind of project?
Lining every wall while leaving the ceiling bare. Treating a privacy problem with absorption.
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
Send the drawings, get a straight answer
One drawing gets you a proper answer. Build-up, quantities, a delivered date, and an honest note on anything we think is the wrong approach.