For projects in Zurich
Office acoustics and soundproofing in Zurich
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. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
- 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 / What it is
The product, described honestly, for a Zurich brief
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.
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
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.
- 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 Zurich.
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 Zurich, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
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 Zurich, concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes where interventions must be reversible.
Direct to wall. Panel bonded or mechanically fixed flat to the substrate. Simplest, and the weakest at low frequency.
-
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 Zurich, school buildings are built to a high standard with hard cleanable surfaces, so rooms stay live and intelligibility is the target.
Mixed finish. Plain felt where it is out of eye line, printed or grooved where it is seen.
We would rather argue about the build-up at design stage than on site. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
What we see driving Zurich briefs
- 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.
- Plant and HVAC
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for Zurich briefs
-
Open plan
Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk. 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.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 100% PET non-woven, no added binder
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 4 mm
- Acoustic panels, Cut pattern in PET felt, adds visual rhythm without changing the absorber
-
Meeting rooms
Privacy between rooms. That is partition and door work, not panels. 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.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mm standard, tolerance plus or minus 5 percent
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
-
Cabins and calls
Short RT so a call sounds clean. A small amount of well placed absorber. 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.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
- Acoustic panels, 9 to 24 mm, 1220 x 2440 mm standard, up to 2440 x 4270 mm, 1200 to 3600 GSM
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Conditions
What the Zurich climate rules in and rules out
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.
On a Zurich job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
The six errors that cost the most
-
Lining every wall while leaving the ceiling bare
Square metre for square metre the ceiling is the cheapest result in the room. Skipping it and buying wall panels instead is the most common way to overspend.
-
Treating a privacy problem with absorption
If the complaint is being overheard, no amount of absorption inside the room will fix it. That is a partition job and we will say so.
-
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 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 / Supply
What the route into Zurich actually looks like
| 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 office acoustics and soundproofing different in Zurich?
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources. 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?
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 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?
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 a plan and a section, get a real build-up
A plan and a section is enough. We will come back with a build-up, a BOQ and a delivered date, and we will say so if what you are asking for will not work.