chapel of faith body pdf · 2.1 achitectural data chapel of faith is a university chapel built in...

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Chapel of Faith, FUTA.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In order to solve the problems associated with sound, there

is a need to look at the acoustic component of the buildings. These

include walls, furniture, windows, ceiling etc. sources of noise – internal

and external sources will also be looked into.

The reason for these is because of the sensitivity of the organ of

hearing. The ear which is the organ of hearing is very sensitive to sound

and also has a range of ‘decibel (dB)’ it can bear. Once it is exposed to a

range it cannot bear, there is bound to be Temporary Hearing loss (THL)

or at higher ranges (e.g. 40dB) it could experience permanent a Hearing

loss (PHL). To prevent such defects in hearing, approaches to reduce the

noise level is considered.

In large auditoriums, (theaters, cinema halls, or workshop halls

etc), distortions of speech could be experienced due to acoustic and

factors like echo, or reverberations. To bring about speech not allowing

any form of interference, measures to overcome acoustic – related

factors is also considered.

Acoustics being science of sound is an aspect or topic that cannot

be overlooked in building. Poor insulation property exhibited by some of

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the building components like windows, walls, ceilings, etc also increases

the acoustic nature of the building.

Therefore with the appraisal of any building, how the acoustic

nature of a building can be improved, and the noise level, both internal

and external can be reduced is what will be considered.

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2.0 CHAPEL OF FAITH FUTA GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Chapel of Faith is located at Obanla area of the campus

behind the university sport center. Adjoining

development/structure to this church building are: Saint Albert Catholic

Church, Computer Resource Center, Continuous Education Center Lecture

Theater, central borehole, university bookshop, and others. The

landscapes of the premises are grasses and shrubs also trees are planted

beside the Chapel. the building can easily be accessed by fairly good road

networking.

University library Chapel of Faith

Computer Resource Center

Saint Albert Catholic Church

From Obakekere

University Central Borehole

Fig.1 Location map of the church under studyFig.1 Location map of the church under studyFig.1 Location map of the church under studyFig.1 Location map of the church under study

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2.1 ACHITECTURAL DATA

Chapel of Faith is a

University Chapel built in

some years back in

Federal University of

technology Akure.

Like many others,

basically the church is

rectangular in shape with

a gallery behind the Auditorium. The church auditorium is completed

while the other part or phase is of the church is still under construction.

The architectural detail of the auditorium can be best described on

as follows.

2.1.1 CEILING FINISHES

Polished timber ceiling board is used for the ceiling finishes. It was

suspended with the aid of timber structure of 50mm by 50mm thickness

at an interval of 1200mm by 1200mm. the ceiling board is tacked down to

the timber structure with aid of timber joist of 25 mm by 50mm by

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3600mm. The ceiling board is polished and decorated in different

pattern.

However, with the knowledge of basic acoustic and reverberation or

echoes is usually caused by height of ceiling and more tends when the

space is empty.

2.1.2 SITTING

ARRANGEMENT

The auditorium

seats are plastic

chairs. Except the

seat at the alter for

Chaplin and other

reverends which are

cushion chairs. The

arrangement of the seats is of about thirty chairs per row and Eighteen

chairs per column.

As a matter of fact, all this plastic chairs are absorber of sound, and

they contribute to the acoustic of the auditorium.

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2.1.3 Walls

Walls are usually

the next most

important surface.

Their importance

increases as a room

decreases.

Typically walls

have very poor

sound absorbing qualities.

The kind of walls used for the church auditorium is the sandcrete

block wall plastered with cement mortar. It is painted with cream

texcote. Carpeting the walls or placing arc tiles/corkboard on the walls

will increase sound absorption, absence reduction of sound level within

the building. In some cases, installation of acoustic baffles is more

convenient or spraying of treatment may be more economical.

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2.1.4 FLOOR

The floor of the church is

furnished with terrazzo and the alter

floor is covered with ceramic tiles.

This can’t do much as per noise

reduction. Carpeting the floor will

increase the NRC only to about 0.3

2.1.5 HEADROOM

The Church Auditorium is made up of gallery at the back entrance.

The headroom of the hall is about 6500m. This is a large room and this

increases the reverberation time of the hall.

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Therefore to reduce the reverberation of the hall, GSM material

could be used as suspended ceilings which are a good absorbent material.

Secondly the headroom could be lowered as to reduce the reverberation

in the hall.

3.0 ACOUSTIC CONDITION OF THE BUILDING

University Chapel is a large auditorium that is use for

worship. It has a lot of elements that contributes to the acoustic

condition of the building. This ranges from the noise generated externally

to the internal ones.

Looking at the location of the church, in front of it is a road linking

senior staff quarter and the university central borehole. Therefore there

is noise generated through traffic. Noise is also generated from the

borehole. Other sources of external noise includes: noise from the

generator of the Computer Resource Center, noise from the Catholic

Church. Internal sources of noise include people or audience, church

appliances; microphones, loudspeakers, drums, organs and others.

In order to address the issue of acoustic control of the building,

every element of the building components and design was carried out.

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3.1 APPRAISAL OF ACOUSTIC SITUATION

There are two main sources of noise to the building. These are the

noise generated within the building and the noise from external sources.

3.1.1 INTERNALLY GENERATED NOISE

The various sources of noise generated internally comes from the

public address system, speakers, amplifier, voice (human), musical

instrument, etc.

3.1.2 PATH OF TRANSMISSION

This is through the sound borne structure element of the building

i.e ceiling, walls, floor, and furniture.

3.1.3 REVERBERATION TIME

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Reverberation is the persistence of sound after it has cease from its

source. This is the consequence of reflection e.g. echo. Optimum

reverberation of room depends on volume of space, type of room, total

sound absorption and setting arrangement.

Reverberation time is directly proportional to the volume

a

Vt

05.0=

Where t = reverberation time of the room

V = volume of the room

a = total room absorption

From

The headroom of the auditorium is about 6.5M. This enhance the

reverberation time usually rise when the auditorium is totally empty.

3.1.4 BACKGROUND NOISE

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The prevailing ambient noise from outdoor is from the traffic,

generator of the Computer Resource Center, noise from the University

borehole area. Another source of the background noise is the audience.

3.2 SOUND REFLECTOR

This is enhanced by smooth surface of glass, walls, and window.

3.3 SURFACE MATERIAL

The building material has a great importance on the acoustic

situation. The element was carefully examined and detailed as follows.

�� Ceiling – made of polished timber ceiling board

�� Floor – made of terrazzo flooring and Ceramic Tile

�� Wall – it is made of sands Crete with glass window.

3.4 SEAT MATERIAL/LAYOUT

The seat use in the church auditorium is single seat plastic chair. The

arrangement of the seats is of about thirty chairs per row and eighteen

chairs per column.

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3.5 SOUND DIFFUSION AND DIFFUSERS

Sound in an enclosure can be described as diffuse if the intensity of

the sound energy is equal in every location of the room, or sound energy

flows equally in every direction. Many different factors can enhance the

diffused sound. These factors include geometrical irregularities absence

of focusing surfaces, the distribution of absorptive and reflective

elements randomly scattered through the space and the existence of

diffusing objects (furniture). Therefore, in places like Chapel of Faith,

sound is diffused due to the presence of wooden ceiling board.

3.6 SIZE AND SHAPE

The building design is rectangular in shape with high headroom. The

auditorium is about 37200m in length and16800m in breadth The size and

the shape of the building allows for equal diffusion and distribution of

sound.

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4.0 IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY/REMEDY

The acoustic condition of Chapel of Faith can be

improved upon on, with the strategies or remedy as discussed below.

4.1 USE OF BARRIERS

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Outdoor noise from traffic, people, and generator can be shielded

with the use of rows of trees being planted to act as sound barrier,

although acoustical effect is small.

4.2 ENCLOSURES

The use of enclosures for the nearby generator of Computer

Resource Center will suppress the noise from the generator.

On the other hand, the internal lining of the auditorium with an

acoustic absorbent also improves the acoustic condition of the church

building.

4.3 COST AND THE DESIGNER

During the design, the cost for the acoustic elements to be

introduced into a building is usually high. Thus the acoustic designer is

rarely allowed the luxury of a huge margin.

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To acoustic consultants tasks is to achieve or strike a balance

between a design that is too costly initially and for one far which failure

will be disastrous.

4.4 FLOOR

The upper surface typically is supported over a sub floor by an

intervening soft layer that reduces the transmission of vibration into the

main structure.

To improve the insulation against impacts, it is necessary either to

add a soft floor covering or resultantly support ceiling. The addition of a

soft floor covering to a hard, heavy floor improves its impact insulation

butt has a negligible effect on its airborne sound insulation.

CEILING

For the ceiling, the use of ceiling with collated/particle board are

good sound absorber.

Also, perforated current asbestos board is a good acoustic material

as it is able to prove a rigid, durable, acoustically transparent feature.

When sound waves strikes the surface of the material, a fraction of the

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incident energy is absorbed by conversion heat. Acoustic materials are

those materials whose primary function is to absorb sound.

ACOUSTICAL TILES AND BOARDS

An acoustical tile or board is an integral rigid, self supporting

material furnished in prefabricated units of a definite size and thickness

the distinction between acoustical board and tile is one of size only

(boards are larger) the thickness range in general from 1.3cm to 3.9cm;

½in to 1½in. The many projects available in acoustic tiles or board form

differ widely in composition and surface characteristics, with

corresponding difference in properties other than sound absorption such

as appearance, architectural style, clean-ability, paint-ability, high

Reflectance, flame resistance and method of application.

GLASS

Sound insulation: it will be seen that the natural air leakages which occur

around closed opening lights are very important. Sealed double glazing is

therefore necessary for a superior level of insulation. The sound

insulating advantages given by wider gaps can be further improved by the

use of sound absorbent around the edges for windows.

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SPECIAL GLASSES/PRODUCT

(a) Laminated glass: - this is resistant to leakage, good as safety glass,

varies from security laminated tough solar, sound, to fire

resistance.

(b) Double glazing: - this reduces thermal loss and condensation

and provides sound insulation

(c) Hollow glass block: - this is a fusion of two glass trays and used for

non–load bearing wall construction. It also has fire and sound

resistance.

WALLS

Wall is an important component of the interior which has great

effect of acoustic condition of the room. It has poor sound absorbing

qualities. To improve the acoustic condition of the building, acoustic

baffles should be used at the wall. The walls could also be treated with

acoustic tiles.

4.5 SOUND CONTROL/INSULATION

Sound insulation is the reduction of sound transmission of (air borne

sound, impact sound) through wall floors and partition. This could be

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achieved in the church building through appropriate sound insulation

element with an adequate transmission coefficient.

Sound reduction effect of element is measured in decibel (dB). The

recommended acoustic standard for auditorium or large hall like this is 30

– 40 decibel.

Material to be used

For this building, it is majorly used for worship, although, music goes

alongside.

The material to be used for the interior of the building with sound

insulating properly must have the following characteristics

1. It must be soft

2. It must be fuzzy, that is soft light hairy texture.

3. It must be porous

4. It must be thick

4.6 BACKGROUND NOISE

To establish good room acoustics, one should reduce background noises

while preserving and reinforcing desired sounds. In achieving this,

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reflecting surface should be chosen and placed for the purpose of

directing and distributing sound throughout the room.

Also, absorptive surfaces should be designated and place to presence of

reflected sound that are no longer useful for reinforcement.

PICTURE GALLERY

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5.0

CONCLUSION

Case studies are expedient in analytical studies and in the case of this

report, the study of the acoustic conditions of the University Chapel of

Faith has fortified the student with eclectic knowledge of acoustics, its

successes and failure in buildings, noise sources and control and ways of

apply it during design.

With this study, it is interesting to note that in any enclosure or

building, the noise level could be reduced to a tolerable level using

appropriate acoustic measures.

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Acoustic had made it possible for music to be going on in an

auditorium and will not interfere with the peace of the city. There are

materials that are design to absorb sounds, such that high range of sound

that could damage the ear is reduced greatly. Noise can now be

controlled and the issue of annoyance, disturbance, or irritation being

prevented is another importance of acoustics.

In large halls like cinema, theaters, auditorium, etc where

reverberations, echoes, etc cannot be avoided with the use of acoustic

baffles on the wall, Gypsum board at the ceiling, reverberations are

eliminated and there is intelligibility of speech. Acoustics had been able

to provide speech intelligibility or clarity unlike the case of distortion or

interference in speechmaking which was peculiar to large auditoriums.

The issue of acoustics being considered along side the building

design is a great breakthrough and improvement in the building industry.

It’s still about considering the safety of man as we know that continuous

exposure to high range of sounds is detrimental to the hearing of man.

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6.0 RECOMMENDATION

In the design of a building, designing with the acoustic

aspect in mind, should be the practice of architects today. Just like we

have schedules for windows, doors, paints etc, acoustic schedules should

also be provided. The acoustic architect must ensure that the

specifications are strictly adhering to.

The study of acoustic has made us to see the importance of

incorporating sound reduction measures to building resign. Unlike before,

when the need or issue of noise is not seen as anything, the use of

acoustic board like gypsum boards for the ceiling, spray-on treated or

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acoustic baffles on walls of building, addition of carpets to the floor of

buildings should be a normal practice in the construction of buildings.

To also achieve maximum result, architecture we know has many

branches, so there should be architects given to the study of acoustics

who are veterans in this field. This will bring about acoustic consultants

who can proffer solution to acoustic problems. It will bring about

architects who know how to manage the issue of sound and noise

alongside with the building construction.

Enlightening people on the danger of continual exposure to sound

and noise is also important. By this people are made to know that the

issue of sound and noise is everybody’s work. Everybody should be

involved. Houses very close to roads or traffic area should use screen

element like fence or having buffer zones to reduce noise from the main

building.

For the interior, the use of double glazed window which has a sound

reduction of up to 42 – 45dB, closed single window has reduction of 20 –

25dB should be recommended for buildings.

Putting all these treasures in place, it will go a long way in

improving the safety of the building and in turn the health of man since

sound deals with the organ of hearing – the ear.

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7.0 REFERENCES

Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Microsoft Corporation, 2006.

Diamant, R.M.E. (1986): Thermal and acoustic insulation. University Press

Cambridge.

www.sdngnet.com

chapel of faith body pdf · 2.1 achitectural data chapel of faith is a university chapel built in...

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