Acentech, a nationally recognized multi-disciplinary acoustics, audiovisual, IT and security system design, and vibration consulting firm, announced that it completed architectural acoustics consulting for a new global headquarters project designed by project architect Baker Design Group. The new 282,000 SF global headquarters of TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, is a state-of-the-art facility in Needham, Mass. incorporating LEED best practices and featuring excellent acoustics throughout its spaces.

Acentech collaborated with Baker Design Group to provide acoustical design for the office fit-out, with a primary focus on the atrium, open and closed offices, and various conference and meeting rooms. In the heart of the building, the four-story atrium is designed for casual gatherings, dining, and amplified and recorded presentations. With seating that accommodates 1,100 employees for company meetings, the proposed mixed-use of the space required extensive acoustical analysis and computer modeling. 

Acentech worked with the design team to establish suitable goals for sound isolation, background noise, and room acoustics for the atrium’s presentation settings. Acentech’s consultants then created acoustical computer models and 3DListening auralizations to allow the client and the design team to experience the acoustics in the atrium under different design conditions, with different finishes for reverberation control, window treatments for highway sound isolation, and background noise levels, before the space was built. 3DListening is a process used by Acentech to produce and present sound simulations, also known as auralizations.

To convey acoustical conditions as close to reality as possible, Acentech’s 3DListening experience was populated with differently sized groups of people, and included calibrated traffic noise recorded at the site. The 3DListening technology helped the team make informed decisions about how to best reach the project goal of achieving excellent acoustics.

“Acentech’s use of 3D Listening and auralization provided TripAdvisor and the design team with a sense of how the atrium would sound for everyday use and special events,” said Stephen Baker, founder and president of Baker Design Group. “Acentech’s 3DListening was a real asset to the whole process, ensuring that we designed and engineered the space with the right acoustical treatments, in the right locations. The technology provided us with a predictable outcome for a successful space.”

To address acoustics in other areas of the building, Acentech designed suitable speech privacy within all offices, speech intelligibility in teleconferencing rooms, sound isolation of workspaces from the nearby highway, and mechanical systems noise control.