Acoustic comfort in a worship space made of cross-laminated timber

Abstract

The construction of a new worship space in cross-laminated timber provides a good opportunity to include acoustic needs in the whole design development. The surface porosity and the lightweight of wooden elements may be carefully considered in order to improve the intelligibility of priests' voice. In this work, a practical approach for obtaining a global acoustic comfort using sustainable materials is provided, using geometrical acoustic simulations. Material properties and architectural geometries were taken into account in order to evaluate subjective reverberation, speech intelligibility, and spatial perception over the whole audience. Results show how the sound energy distribution in the case study follows the sound field models proposed by scholars and how the ceiling shape-inspired by industrial sheds-contributes to the acoustic comfort of the faithfuls.

Effect of Glue Spread on Bonding Strength, Delamination, and Wood Failure of Jabon Wood-Based Cross-Laminated Timber Using Cold-Setting Melamine-Based Adhesive

“…The raw material for producing CLT was obtained from jabon wood, which was obtained from a community forest located in the Bogor area of West Java. The wood had a density of 0.44 g/cm 3 and a moisture content of 12 ± 2%. To create the CLT, lumber samples with dimensions of 330 mm × 110 mm × 20 mm and 110 mm × 110 mm × 20 mm for the length, width, and thickness were prepared.…”

“…Engineered wood products have gained popularity worldwide due to the increasing demand for environmentally friendly building construction and the growth of global development [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an example of this type of product, which has emerged as a viable building material for structural applications.…”

Acoustic Characteristics of Cross-Laminated Timber Systems

“…Although it has appeared on the market only recently, CLT (cross-laminated timber), also known by other trade names such as X-Lam or CrossLam, composite plywood, cross-laminated wood, BBS (Binder BrettSperrholz), or MM-BSP (Mayr-Melnhof-Brett Sperrholz Platten), has attracted considerable interest in the field of technological innovation and eco-sustainable construction materials [24,25]. CLT structures are becoming a reference model in Europe, especially in the field of multi-storey wooden constructions [26][27][28][29][30][31] and not only for residential use [32,33]. The use of the CLT is very adaptable and it allows constructing walls, floors, and roofs in various types of buildings: Multi-storey residential buildings, schools, auditoria, exhibition places, worship places, sports halls, theatres, and commercial buildings.…”