Development and Testing of Novel Acoustic Clay Tiles

Abstract

Architectural acoustics in practice are often governed by postapplied porous absorbers and costly one-off solutions, which may limit the creative integration of acoustic design into the critical early phases of building design. The studies presented focus on the development and testing of novel acoustic clay-based tiles, which act as a composable hybrid design system including absorption and scattering properties that can be uniquely created to the site and use specific conditions; yet, it is based on a modular and affordable approach. Using experimental material studies, physical prototyping studies, and laboratory and field measurement studies, the tiles were developed and tested. The results show that the proposed configurable system and structure enable the articulation of specific scattering and absorption properties and that these can be activated to increase specific room acoustic qualities, measured on parameters of Reverberation Time and Definition in an auditorium setting.