For projects in Zurich
Venue and restaurant acoustics in Zurich
Two different jobs that get quoted as one: keeping bass inside the building for the neighbours, and making the room comfortable enough that guests can talk. Solving one does nothing for the other. Concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes where interventions must be reversible.
- Containment
- Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope.
- Table level comfort
- Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other.
- Entrance and service
- Doors, lobbies and extract paths, which is where most of the leakage actually is.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / Start here
The product, described honestly, for a Zurich brief
Two different jobs that get quoted as one: keeping bass inside the building for the neighbours, and making the room comfortable enough that guests can talk. Solving one does nothing for the other.
Concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes where interventions must be reversible.
Work reaching us from Zurich is mostly banking and professional offices, industrial conversions, apartments, clinics, restaurants, studios.
- Confidentiality is the requirement On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
- Industrial conversions in the west Old industrial buildings give superb volume and terrible acoustics. Hard shells, big cubic volume and nothing soft, so the ceiling plane has to carry the whole room.
- Depth costs real money here Zurich floor area is among the most expensive in Europe. A thinner build-up that performs is worth more than a thicker one that performs slightly better.
- Containment Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for venue soundproofing are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Zurich.
Nightclub and venue soundproofing SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
02 / The build-up
What goes where, from the structure in
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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 Zurich, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
Duct and plant wrap. Membrane wrapped over the duct with a decoupling layer beneath, sealed at every lap.
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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 Zurich, concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes where interventions must be reversible.
Ceiling first. In most rooms the ceiling is the largest untreated surface and the cheapest square metre of result.
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Layer 3
Wooden slat acoustic panels
Timber slats on an acoustic backing. In Zurich, school buildings are built to a high standard with hard cleanable surfaces, so rooms stay live and intelligibility is the target.
Slats on a cavity. Backing plus an air gap behind moves absorption lower, which matters in music rooms.
For a Zurich 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 Zurich do to the specification
- Confidentiality is the requirement
On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
- Industrial conversions in the west
Old industrial buildings give superb volume and terrible acoustics. Hard shells, big cubic volume and nothing soft, so the ceiling plane has to carry the whole room.
- Depth costs real money here
Zurich floor area is among the most expensive in Europe. A thinner build-up that performs is worth more than a thicker one that performs slightly better.
- Trams and dense streets
Ground level trams put low frequency into the structure. That is a structural isolation question, and panels on a wall will not answer it.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes where interventions must be reversible.
04 / Room by room
Where the money goes on a Zurich project
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Containment
Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope. On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 2100 kg per cubic metre
- Acoustic panels, 1800 x 900 mm, image printed into the felt rather than onto a facing
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
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Table level comfort
Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other. Old industrial buildings give superb volume and terrible acoustics. Hard shells, big cubic volume and nothing soft, so the ceiling plane has to carry the whole room.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 30, 5.25 kg per sq m
- Acoustic panels, Cut pattern in PET felt, adds visual rhythm without changing the absorber
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
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Entrance and service
Doors, lobbies and extract paths, which is where most of the leakage actually is. Zurich floor area is among the most expensive in Europe. A thinner build-up that performs is worth more than a thicker one that performs slightly better.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 64 sq ft per pack
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate
Why the climate in Zurich changes the material, not the target
Zurich 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 Zurich 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
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
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Panels on the wall as a neighbour noise solution
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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A lobby with both doors able to open at once
A 6 mm undercut under a door leaves a hole the size of a brick. The wall around it is then decorative.
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Extract ducting that bypasses every wall you built
Noise with a source is fixed at the source. Treating the receiving room is the expensive way to get a small result.
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Treating it as a generic Zurich job
On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
05 / Logistics
Supply into Zurich, start to site
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Rotterdam or Antwerp, then rail into Zurich |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Rotterdam, then rail |
| 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 Rotterdam or Antwerp, then rail into Zurich. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Zurich projects
What makes venue and restaurant acoustics different in Zurich?
Concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes where interventions must be reversible. On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
Where should the budget go first on a Zurich project?
Containment. Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope. Table level comfort. Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other.
Do you have an office or installation team in Zurich?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Zurich. 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 Zurich site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Rotterdam or Antwerp, then rail into Zurich, 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?
Panels on the wall as a neighbour noise solution. A lobby with both doors able to open at once.
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 a plan and a section, get a real build-up
Send what you have. We will give you a layer by layer build-up, a bill of quantities and a date material lands, and we will flag anything in the brief that will not achieve what you want.