R/E/P > Acoustics in Motion

Making the best of a bad situation- exterior windows

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fifthcircle:
I'm assisting a school that I've worked at set up a small studio space and a mix space.  Most of the planning is going quite well, but there is a recent wrench that has been thrown in the mix.  Windows.

The school is requiring that there be windows that open in all classrooms.  We're still negotiating, but it looks like we're going to loose this one.  The building itself is 1950's cement and the windows are quite large (5'x7') and there are two of them.  Our current plans involve redoing walls- essentially framing in a room within a room to make this space work.  Our original idea was to completely seal the windows, but that may not happen.

I've been looking for sources to figure out ways to deal with this.  Does anybody have ideas on how to approach these issues?  Anybody know of a product that may work?  The current thinking has been two sets of opening double paned windows that can seal.  Is there a better idea?

I don't need perfect, but I do need workable because there is a child care center and  playground under the recording room's window.  These rooms are set and we have to make them work.  Otherwise,they aren't horrible.  The record room is probably 15-20 feet with 15 foot ceilings.

Thanks for any ideas you may give...

boggy:
Windows aren't bad if you can have symmetry for monitoring in a mixing room. I mean, if you have window to your left side, you must have same to your right side, otherwise, after acoustic treatment, non-symmetrical reflections from windows will made a sense of something that may be called (frequency dependent) "broken stereo image", from my experience, some people cannot easily adapt to this.
In studio space you may build/buy mobile panels to block/absorb  reflections from windows... or you may use (creatively)  this reflections for recording... if you like.

franman:
I think you're on the right track... two sets of operable windows is probably your best bet in this situation. We've done institutional project before with the same (operable window) requirement and in NYC we've used a company called Citi-Proof to supply framed, thick glazing window sashes that open in almost any configuration you might require. With a decent air space (between your new iso wall and the existing building demising wall) and the window sets you can get acceptable isolation depending on the depth of the air space and the thickness of the two sets of glazing.

fm

fifthcircle:
Not to worry about Symmetry... We'll set things as symmetrically as possible.  The room isn't, but we're going to move things around a bit and we may even be able to move the wall a bit.  Still haven't figured out exactly how the mix room will be oriented (it also has to function for teaching with students and it isn't very big), but that is the easier part of the design process.

Thanks for the info on Citi-proof.  Looks like a really cool company and exactly what I'm looking for except that they are in NYC.  Know of a company like that out in the LA area?  If nothing else, their product line and descriptions of what they do are great ideas for us and how to be successful in building the space out.

--Ben

franman:
I don't know a local similar company in the LA area.. anybody on the left coast??

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