Awareness
Thus, without too much guilt, the client constructs a building
as cheaply as possible and, if it is noisy, blames the tenant for a
fit-out which didn’t cater for noise control. Quantity surveyors
(the QS) are supposed to do cost estimating, cost control and
so on in building projects. They very often omit any allowance
for acoustics and noise control or the services of a consulting
acoustics engineer. They defend this stance by saying “the client
doesn’t want it”. This is true, but often it is the QS who is keen
to keep costs down, just because. I was at a meeting last year
concerning the acoustics and noise control in a hospital. The QS
told us that noise control was not necessary in the hospital since
“none of the other hospitals they had worked on had any specific
noise control”. The hospital was built. A trolley pushed down a
corridor can be heard in every part of every ward. Very restful.
Interior designers don’t help. Apart from a fee, they get a
royalty on every item of interior design that they specify. This
leads to a very incestuous relationship with suppliers of door,
tiles, wall hangings, ceilings and glass suppliers. Thus, if there
is a consulting acoustic engineer on the project, any design
suggestions which involve surfaces which have some acoustic
Acoustics
and noise control function, are kicked out by the interior designer
who has a vested interest it their proposed design. “The client
has seen this” they say “and he likes it”. Finished.
But it is not all doom and gloom. There are architects out
there who really care. Cape Town International Airport (Blue
Print Architects) is one of the quietest in the world – a complete
absence of “airport rumble”. The UWC learning centre (DHK) is a
masterpiece, both visually and acoustically. Curro School Chamber
Music Hall (James Basson, Curro) is so good, acoustically, that
the University of South Africa music exams were held there.
Bloemhof Electricity building (EBSA) has an auditorium which
is close to perfect. Khayelitsha Library (Chamberlain and Irving)
is all, acoustically, that a library can be. Other structures: SSOB
building (ACG Architects), MyCiti Cape Town terminal (ARG
Architects) and others are also good. But Cape Town Stadium
(acoustically rubbish), Bellville Velodrome and many others, are
terrible. Things need not change – South Africans frequently put
up with what they get in terns of acoustics and noise control.
They shouldn’t have to. But until project execution and attitudes
transform, nothing, acoustically, will change.
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