For projects in Milan
Auditorium acoustics and soundproofing in Milan
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. Churches, theatres and civic halls are stone and plaster volumes with decay times measured in seconds.
- 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 Milan 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.
Churches, theatres and civic halls are stone and plaster volumes with decay times measured in seconds.
Work reaching us from Milan is mostly showrooms, studios, offices in Porta Nuova and CityLife, restaurants, hotels, apartments.
- Showrooms and retail fit-outs Hard floors, glass and high ceilings are the look. Absorption has to go where it does the work and disappears, usually the ceiling plane and the upper wall.
- Courtyard buildings The classic Milanese block puts flats, offices and a restaurant around one courtyard. Everything shares walls and slabs, so containment matters more than treatment.
- Towers with nothing soft in them Porta Nuova and CityLife floors are glass to glass with raised floors and exposed slabs. Speech carries because there is nothing for it to land on.
- 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 Milan.
02 / The build-up
The build-up, layer by layer
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Layer 1
PET felt acoustic panels
A rigid non-woven panel pressed from 100% polyester fibre, a large part of it recycled. In Milan, split and multi-split systems with condensers in courtyards that reflect noise back into every flat.
Over a porous backing. Panel over mineral or PET backing where the room needs genuine low mid control.
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Layer 2
Ceiling baffles and clouds
PET felt suspended from the soffit, vertically as baffles or horizontally as clouds. In Milan, churches, theatres and civic halls are stone and plaster volumes with decay times measured in seconds.
Mixed with services. Set out around ducts, trays and lighting rather than fighting them, coordinated from your reflected ceiling plan.
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Layer 3
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Milan, school buildings are hard surfaced with high ceilings, and many sit inside older structures where intervention has to be reversible.
Over a resilient underlay. Where impact noise to the floor below is the actual complaint, the underlay does that work, not the carpet.
If you are specifying for a Milan project, we can give you a section, a BOQ and the honest limits of each layer. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
The Milan conditions that change the answer
- Showrooms and retail fit-outs
Hard floors, glass and high ceilings are the look. Absorption has to go where it does the work and disappears, usually the ceiling plane and the upper wall.
- Courtyard buildings
The classic Milanese block puts flats, offices and a restaurant around one courtyard. Everything shares walls and slabs, so containment matters more than treatment.
- Towers with nothing soft in them
Porta Nuova and CityLife floors are glass to glass with raised floors and exposed slabs. Speech carries because there is nothing for it to land on.
- Design deadlines that do not move
Showroom and fair programmes run to a fixed opening. We give real dispatch and transit dates so the fit-out is not waiting on a container.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Churches, theatres and civic halls are stone and plaster volumes with decay times measured in seconds.
- School and campus buildings
School buildings are hard surfaced with high ceilings, and many sit inside older structures where intervention has to be reversible.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for Milan briefs
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Reverberation time
Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision. Hard floors, glass and high ceilings are the look. Absorption has to go where it does the work and disappears, usually the ceiling plane and the upper wall.
- Wooden slat acoustic panels, MDF, FR MDF, HDF or HDHMR
- PET felt acoustic panels, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mm standard, tolerance plus or minus 5 percent
- 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. The classic Milanese block puts flats, offices and a restaurant around one courtyard. Everything shares walls and slabs, so containment matters more than treatment.
- Wooden slat acoustic panels, 13-3, 14-2, 28-4 and 59-5
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
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Rear wall
The single worst surface in most halls, and the first one to treat. Porta Nuova and CityLife floors are glass to glass with raised floors and exposed slabs. Speech carries because there is nothing for it to land on.
- Wooden slat acoustic panels, 2440 x 192 mm and 2440 x 128 mm
- PET felt acoustic panels, 1220 x 2440 mm standard, 4 x 8 ft
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 64 sq ft per pack
If the visual is fixed and the room still has to perform, that is a solvable problem and a conversation worth having early. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate and durability
Durability in Milan, before acoustics is discussed
Milan is hot dry summers and mild wet winters, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
The swing between a dry summer and a wet winter moves timber. PET felt is dimensionally stable across that swing; slat panels want a stable substrate and a ventilated fixing.
The failure we design against here is seasonal movement in timber and winter damp in unheated stock.
If a consultant has set the target, we will quote against their figures rather than ours, and stay out of the scope they own. More on working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Before you buy
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
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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Ignoring the rear wall because it is behind the audience
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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Treating it as a generic Milan job
Hard floors, glass and high ceilings are the look. Absorption has to go where it does the work and disappears, usually the ceiling plane and the upper wall.
05 / Route to site
Supply into Milan, start to site
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Genoa or La Spezia, then a short road run north |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Genoa |
| 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 Genoa or La Spezia, then road into Milan. Air freight for samples, colour approvals and urgent quantities.
Questions from Milan projects
What makes auditorium acoustics and soundproofing different in Milan?
Churches, theatres and civic halls are stone and plaster volumes with decay times measured in seconds. Hard floors, glass and high ceilings are the look. Absorption has to go where it does the work and disappears, usually the ceiling plane and the upper wall.
Where should the budget go first on a Milan 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 Milan?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Milan. 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 Milan site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Genoa or La Spezia, then a short road run north, 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?
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
Send the drawings, get a straight answer
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.