acousticpearls Panel Mono

As all who work in a small office, or perhaps more importantly from home, know, noise is one of the biggest contributors to stress and non-productivity.

And we don’t mean the radio that you want to hear, but rather the unwanted, background noise generated by others.

A little physics tells us that noise travels in waves, and that the most important factor in sustaining and amplifying noise in a room is reverberation and reflection from walls.

Ergo, stop the reverberation and reflection and you reduce the background noise and so your stress and so you can get a lot more done.

This fairly basic principle is the idea behind acousticpearls.

acousticpearls Panel DUO1

Only, and as with all really good industrial design, the crowning glory is the step from raw physics to design: which in the case of acousticpearls is the outer covering in pure new wool coverings from Danish producer kvadrat.

But back to the science.

The acoustic pearl panels are 4,5 cm thick, filled with a highly effective, shock resistant acoustic material and are certified according to ISO 354-2003 Acoustics — Measurement of sound absorption in a reverberation room.

Which on a practical level means they are effective at increasing sound absorption and reducing reverberation in a room. And so at reducing the background noise level.

acousticpearls Panel DUO2

The number of acousticpearl panels required in a given space is dependent on both the “volume” of the room and the room usage/level of expected background noise.

However, hanging several panels shouldn’t pose too many problems.

For, thanks to the decision to cover the acousticpearls panels in kvadrat wool you have a wonderful range of design, layout and colour options all in high quality pure new wool – meaning that regardless of the intended use, or number of panels required, acousticpearls can provide an attractive, stylish solution.

The acousticpearls panels come in the three different variations; MONO DUO 1 and DUO 2.

MONO is, as it’s name should suggest, MONOtone.

DUO 1 and DUO 2 are both two-toned: DUO 1 horizontally and DUO 2 vertically separated. In both cases the ratio of the two colours is 2:1

The possibly combinations are only limited by your imagination and colour schemes.

acousticpearls Panel - felxible size, colour and layout options

Finally, the back of the acousticpearls panels come with inbuilt fixtures for mounting and a complete wall mounting kit is included with each panel.

acousticpearls are ideal for not only reducing the background noise and reverberation in office environments, but also in, for example, reception areas, dining rooms/canteens or a large conference room.

They can, however, also be used in the home to help create a pleasant acoustic aesthetic.

acousticpearls are now available from (smow)

The colourful future of "Net 'n' Nesting" (Photo: http://www.vitra.com)

For the creative bosses at Vitra the days of the large unified office space are numbered. Not only are the working conditions in such environments not ideal for productivity, but much more each employee and every visitor has a feeling of surveillance, exploitation and treadmill.

A more inspiring and positive atmosphere, however, promise Vitra from their playfully named “Net ‘n’ Nest” concept. Here the connection between individual work and rest areas and the possibilities of communicative and open collaboration are placed in the foreground – and all in space saving styleee. The “Net ‘n’ Nest” concept originated with a detailed analysis of office work flows and was further refined with professionnel monitoring in customers offices.

“Netting” is used to define the space that is created within the office system, and which is suitable for team work and meetings and which is intended to promote communication between employees. “Nesting” in contrast is the term for those areas of still, concentrated work. For Vitra CEO Hans-Peter Cohn it is important that there are spaces for relaxing in which expressive colours dominate and extend a cozy living room atmosphere; as well as areas with more restrained colours and a puritanical design to promote relaxation and concentration.

NesTable from Vitra

The “Net ‘n’ Nest” „ concept was first presented in 2006. Since then designers and architects have worked on versions intended to connect the Netting and Nesting components in a ever more space saving fashions. In the future moving from communicative team work to concentrated individual work should not necessarily involve moving room: Ideally the work place should allow for both possibilities. Features such as height adjustable room dividers between the work places as well comfortable office chairs that double as relaxing armchairs are just a couple of examples of the “Net ‘n’ Nest” philosophy.

Worknest from Vitra

Among the Vitra products in the smow collection with which to begin “Net ‘n’ Nest” in your own office we can recommend:

- Office chair Worknest

- BaOBab Table

- NesTable

- Lounge Chair Amoebe

- ATM Mobile Unit