An acoustic
attenuation solution provided by Sto has helped create a new acoustic
environment at a leading London restaurant.
The StoSilent Distance
system has been installed at Lyle’s – a restaurant that is quickly becoming
recognized as one of most prestigious establishments of its kind in the
capital.
Located in the
historic refurbished Tea Building in Shoreditch, Lyle’s frontage consists of
original individual glazed windows, which lead into a clean modern, large open
plan area.
Within this area there
are exposed HVAC services below the soffit, a bar space and an open kitchen
experience.
“Although the interior
is clean, light and modern and gives a feeling of space, unfortunately all the
original features of the building, i.e. glazed tiles to the walls, original
concrete columns and polished concrete floors are hard and reflective and only
add to the acoustic conundrum with attenuation, reverberation and speech
clarity,” explains Sto’s Technical Consultant for Acoustics, Mike
Wallace. “Add to the mix the open kitchen and bar, mood music and hard
wooden tables and chairs, and it was vital that the correct acoustic balance
was achieved.
“For a restaurant,
it’s important to create the correct balance. You want the area to have a good
background atmosphere, and at the same time, the customers need to be able to
hold conversations without straining to hear, where speech is intelligible. This
is when good all-round acoustic design becomes a vital element within the
space. To achieve this, we were asked to provide a Class B solution, which
translates to 0.8 and 0.85 as a weighted sound absorption coefficiency.”
The Sto
Silent Distance 115 system was chosen to achieve this balance and Sto worked
closely with Billy Hookway of Trishna Group to provide the optimum design. The
Sto Silent Distance 115 system allows the creation of seamless, sound-absorbent
walls and ceilings up to 200 m², allowing inclined planes, sharp and consistent
joints, bulkheads and floating return bulkheads. In line with the aspiration of
the client wishing to have a modern, clean, uncluttered aesthetic, it was
natural for Lyles to choose the Sto Silent Distance system.
The
interior soffit consisted of existing pre-constructed square concrete coffers,
and the client wished to retain these, so Sto designed the individual canopies
to be tight to the soffit and give the impression of height and depth, and to
accentuate and express the natural concrete coffers. The use of the Sto SW150
minimal void solution, in conjunction with the 25mm 115 board, provided the
perfect balance in achieving the all-important acoustic design and the
aesthetic requirements.
Installation of the system was managed by Craft
Interior, a trained Sto Acoustic installer. “The overall installation was
finished with Sto Silent Décor M in white, to create an eye-catching finish
that is very in-keeping with the clean and minimalist design of the
restaurant’s interior,” adds Graham Chadwick of Craft Interior. “The
StoSilent Décor M is spray-applied and can be tinted to match a wide range of
shades from the StoColor system”.
The final effect has been extremely successful, with
Lyle’s diners able to enjoy their meal in surroundings that are attractive and
contemporary from both a visual and acoustic viewpoint.
