Background
Anderson Acoustics was appointed to undertake a Stage 4 acoustic design review for Lava.Lab London, a fourth‑floor retrofit within an existing commercial office building. The scheme introduced a Digital Experience Space combining open collaboration areas with two cellular rooms: a Hybrid Room and an Immersion Room.
The review assessed whether the developed design information could reasonably achieve the acoustic performance targets established at Stage 3, taking account of the constraints imposed by the existing structure, façade and building services.
The Challenge
The layout required acoustic separation between open plan collaboration areas and enclosed rooms intended for focused and audio‑visual use. The Hybrid Room was located directly on the building façade, while both cellular rooms opened onto an active collaboration space, increasing the risk of noise transfer and reduced speech privacy.
Key issues included the achievable sound insulation of partitions incorporating doors and glazing, potential flanking transmission at junctions, and internal ambient noise levels influenced by existing mechanical services. The Immersion Room also required controlled reverberation and sound clarity to support its intended use.
Our Approach
A detailed review of the Stage 4 architectural, structural and M&E information was undertaken against the agreed acoustic performance criteria. This included assessment of internal sound insulation, acoustic privacy, junction detailing, service penetrations and building services noise.
Three‑dimensional acoustic modelling was carried out for the Digital Collaboration Space, Hybrid Room and Immersion Room. The modelling assessed reverberation time (Tmf), speech intelligibility (STI) and speech clarity (C50) using the proposed ceiling systems, finishes and acoustic panels, with alternative options tested where initial proposals did not meet the required criteria.
The Solution
Minimum performance requirements were defined for separating walls and floors, with detailed guidance provided on partition head and base details, façade junctions and service penetrations to limit flanking transmission and avoid performance loss on site.
Modelling confirmed that the Digital Collaboration Space could achieve the target reverberation and intelligibility criteria with the proposed ceiling system. In the Hybrid Room, performance was shown to be dependent on the deployment of curtains and the provision of additional sound‑absorbing finishes. In the Immersion Room, upgrades to ceiling absorption and wall‑mounted acoustic panels were required to achieve compliant reverberation times and speech clarity.
Conclusion
This project reflects our approach to detailed design stage consultancy for commercial and workplace acoustics. Performance was assessed against realistic site conditions, constraints were clearly identified, and recommendations were limited to measures that were technically justified and deliverable.
The result was a defined acoustic strategy that aligned the design intent with the practical limitations of an existing building, with clear solutions to meet all acoustic requirements.
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