For projects in Mecca
Auditorium acoustics and soundproofing in Mecca
A large hard volume where speech falls apart long before anyone calls the room echoey. The target is intelligibility at the back row, which is a reverberation and early reflection problem, not a loudspeaker problem. Mosques, conference halls and hotel ballrooms are tall hard volumes where intelligibility over a long reverberation tail is the whole brief.
- Reverberation time
- Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision.
- Early reflections
- Shaped surfaces that send energy to the rear seats rather than absorbing everything.
- Rear wall
- The single worst surface in most halls, and the first one to treat.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / What it is
The product, described honestly, for a Mecca brief
A large hard volume where speech falls apart long before anyone calls the room echoey. The target is intelligibility at the back row, which is a reverberation and early reflection problem, not a loudspeaker problem.
Mosques, conference halls and hotel ballrooms are tall hard volumes where intelligibility over a long reverberation tail is the whole brief.
Work reaching us from Mecca is mostly hotel guest rooms and corridors, lobbies, assembly and function halls, offices, clinics.
- Rooms occupied around the clock In peak season somebody is always asleep and somebody is always in the corridor. Guest room isolation carries the whole guest experience, and door and corridor details cause more complaints than walls do.
- Refurbishment windows do not move Work happens between seasons, on dates fixed long in advance. We give real dispatch and transit dates so the programme is not waiting on a container that will not land in time.
- Repeat detail at scale A thousand rooms means the same build-up a thousand times. Consistent thickness and density across the whole order matters more than the headline figure on any one sheet.
- Reverberation time Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for auditorium acoustics are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Mecca.
02 / The build-up
How the layers stack, from the structure inwards
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Layer 1
Wood wool acoustic panels
Wood fibre bound into a rigid board with an open texture. In Mecca, cooling runs year round at high load, so chillers, AHUs and large duct runs are constant sources. Plant room lining and duct attenuation carry most of the result.
Direct fix. Mechanically fixed to the soffit or wall. Durable and simple.
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Layer 2
Wooden slat acoustic panels
Timber slats on an acoustic backing. In Mecca, mosques, conference halls and hotel ballrooms are tall hard volumes where intelligibility over a long reverberation tail is the whole brief.
Feature wall only. Slats where they are seen, plain felt elsewhere, to hold the budget where it shows.
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Layer 3
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Mecca, new school and university buildings are large, hard and highly glazed. Lecture theatres and sports halls are the spaces that fail first, and ceiling absorption is the practical fix.
Zoned. Carpet in the circulation and meeting zones, hard floor elsewhere, so the treatment sits where the noise is made.
Architects working in Mecca 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 / Local conditions
The Mecca conditions that change the answer
- Rooms occupied around the clock
In peak season somebody is always asleep and somebody is always in the corridor. Guest room isolation carries the whole guest experience, and door and corridor details cause more complaints than walls do.
- Refurbishment windows do not move
Work happens between seasons, on dates fixed long in advance. We give real dispatch and transit dates so the programme is not waiting on a container that will not land in time.
- Repeat detail at scale
A thousand rooms means the same build-up a thousand times. Consistent thickness and density across the whole order matters more than the headline figure on any one sheet.
- Halls built for crowds
Large assembly and function spaces in hard concrete carry long reverberation. Speech stops being intelligible long before the room sounds obviously wrong.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Mosques, conference halls and hotel ballrooms are tall hard volumes where intelligibility over a long reverberation tail is the whole brief.
- School and campus buildings
New school and university buildings are large, hard and highly glazed. Lecture theatres and sports halls are the spaces that fail first, and ceiling absorption is the practical fix.
04 / Room by room
Room by room, on a typical Mecca job
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Reverberation time
Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision. In peak season somebody is always asleep and somebody is always in the corridor. Guest room isolation carries the whole guest experience, and door and corridor details cause more complaints than walls do.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 1200 x 600 mm
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 9 to 24 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
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Early reflections
Shaped surfaces that send energy to the rear seats rather than absorbing everything. Work happens between seasons, on dates fixed long in advance. We give real dispatch and transit dates so the programme is not waiting on a container that will not land in time.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 20 mm
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Made to the drawing, standard and custom
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
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Rear wall
The single worst surface in most halls, and the first one to treat. A thousand rooms means the same build-up a thousand times. Consistent thickness and density across the whole order matters more than the headline figure on any one sheet.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 400 kg per cubic metre
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Both faces work, which is why suspended area outperforms the same area laid flat
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 64 sq ft per pack
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 / Climate and durability
Durability in Mecca, before acoustics is discussed
Mecca is hot and dry for most of the year, with dust and high daytime surface temperatures, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Dust is the enemy of open-cell products. PET felt does not shed, does not hold dust in the way fabric-wrapped glass wool does, and wipes down. Timber needs a stable indoor RH or it moves.
The failure we design against here is dust ingress and thermal movement in long runs.
Consultants get the raw data, not a sales sheet. That is the whole of our side of the job, and it is set out under working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
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Absorbing the whole room and losing the back rows
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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Adding speakers to fix a reverberation problem
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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Ignoring the rear wall because it is behind the audience
Small on the drawing, expensive on site, and almost always found after handover.
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Treating it as a generic Mecca job
In peak season somebody is always asleep and somebody is always in the corridor. Guest room isolation carries the whole guest experience, and door and corridor details cause more complaints than walls do.
05 / Supply
Getting it to Mecca, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Jeddah, then a short road run to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Jeddah |
| 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 Jeddah, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Mecca projects
What makes auditorium acoustics and soundproofing different in Mecca?
Mosques, conference halls and hotel ballrooms are tall hard volumes where intelligibility over a long reverberation tail is the whole brief. In peak season somebody is always asleep and somebody is always in the corridor. Guest room isolation carries the whole guest experience, and door and corridor details cause more complaints than walls do.
Where should the budget go first on a Mecca project?
Reverberation time. Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision. Early reflections. Shaped surfaces that send energy to the rear seats rather than absorbing everything.
Do you have an office or installation team in Mecca?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Mecca. 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 Mecca site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Jeddah, 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?
Absorbing the whole room and losing the back rows. Adding speakers to fix a reverberation problem.
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
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.