Acoustic design of open plan schools and comparison of requirements

In the Nordic countries several new schools have open plan areas for teaching and group work. However, to optimize learning efficiency for pupils and working conditions for teachers and to reduce noise levels, such spaces require special acoustic design to obtain sufficient sound attenuation between groups and satisfac¬tory speech intelligibility internally in groups. This paper describes the newest Danish requirements and recommendations for such open plan areas and presents the design, measurements and subjective evaluation of two newer Danish schools. According to the users, the general conditions at both schools are satisfactory due to both optimized acoustical conditions and teaching methods adapted to the special open environment. The results from room acoustical modelling, verification measurements and questionnaire survey are presented and evaluated in relation to the newest Danish criteria. Requirements and recommendations from the other Nordic countries and from UK are summarized and the different criteria discussed