Acoustic Design for NDA Group Offices in Shanghai

NDA Group is a leading global design firm formed by a brilliant team of designers and architects. Nowadays, the agency has completed more than 300 projects in over 20 countries since 2001.

In 2014, Delhom Acoustics China merged NDA’s architectural design knowledge with our acoustic expertise for the first time. Since then, we regularly join forces to carry out high-level projects in Asia.

In early 2020, our team of acoustic engineers and consultants were called upon to bring acoustic comfort to the refurbishment of NDA’s office in Shanghai. The project’s aim was to optimize the workspace’s overall acoustic design for higher staff productivity and comfort. Through the use of eco-responsible acoustic solutions, we created an environment of peace & wellness for NDA’s employees.

Antoine Pommier and Yarong Tang – Delhom’s acoustic engineers leading the project – had the pleasure to work closely with NDA’s Founder & CEO Emmanuel de la Rue and senior designer David Bedjai from the first stage of the interior design planning. As a result, the balanced acoustic design gave life to a beautiful eco-designed office.

First of all, the initial office situation included an open space office whose noise easily traveled from one room to another, expanding to the meeting rooms, collective areas and private office. Regarding the private spaces (meeting room, private office…), there was a lack of confidentiality and listening comfort due to the absence of correct sound insulation and reverberation. In the end, any activity taking place in one area was highly influencing the rest of the team’s work. Therefore, the main question addressed by our acoustic engineers was “how can we reinforce the privacy in a small office while simultaneously giving the team flexibility to move from one space to another, without over-complicating the acoustic solutions?”

To address this challenge and achieve the desired acoustic targets for each space, our team carried out an acoustic audit of the existing areas to perform sound simulations and calculations. By doing so, we could define all possible cost-effective treatments and materials to manage each room’s reverberation, speech intelligibility and noise propagation. Once the right acoustic solutions were chosen and agreed on, our engineers organized on-site visits during construction to verify that the proposed acoustic treatments and systems were properly installed.

The result was a complete success for the eyes and ears! In addition, finding solutions during practical brainstorming sessions with NDA was a real pleasure! Acoustically speaking, we managed to achieve the initial targets while optimizing costs for the client.

A special thank you to NDA Group’s team of designers for this amazing collaboration, it was a delight for us to combine our acoustic expertise with the interior design!

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