Architectural Acoustics: Principles and Practice

Get the leading guide to acoustics for architects, engineers, and interior designers.

A widely recognized, comprehensive reference to acoustic principles for all concerned with the built environment, Architectural Acoustics, Second Edition provides design professionals with up-to-date information on basic concepts, acoustical materials, and technologies for controlling wanted or unwanted sound within and around buildings.

Written by a team of internationally recognized experts and experienced consultants, this Second Edition covers fundamental acoustic principles, design criteria, acoustical materials, control strategies, and methods for a wide variety of building types, including educational, healthcare, recreational, residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation facilities. Particular attention is given to places for listening and performance such as theaters, churches, concert and recital halls, outdoor arenas, classrooms, multiuse auditoria, libraries, music practice and rehearsal rooms, recording and broadcast studios, sports venues, home theaters, and other spaces that people meet to communicate and enjoy performance.

Updated throughout, this edition features:

• New information on acoustical standards and guidelines for sustainable building design.
• Additional, richly detailed case studies demonstrating real-world applications, including the acclaimed Walt Disney Concert Hall and many other building types.
• Nearly 200 photos and illustrations that further elucidate specific principles, applications, and techniques.
• New developments in sound reinforcement and audio visual systems and their integration in room design.
• Progress in research and future directions in acoustical modeling.

With fundamental conceptual understanding of basic acoustical principles provided by Architectural Acoustics, Second Edition, building designers can confidently create aesthetically and aurally pleasing spaces, while avoiding problems that could be very costly, if not impossible, to solve later.

William J. Cavanaugh, FASA, INCE (Bd. Cert.), is a founding partner and senior principal emeritus of Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Inc., an acoustical consulting firm based in Sudbury, Massachusetts. His distinguished career as an acoustical consultant to the world's leading architectural and engineering firms and as a teacher at architectural schools spans more than four decades. He has served as president of both the National Council of Acoustical Consultants and the Institute of Noise Control Engineering. He was awarded the prestigious Wallace Clement Sabine Medal, the Acoustical Society of America's highest honor in architectural acoustics, in 2006.

Gregory C. Tocci, FASA, INCE (Bd. Cert.), a registered professional engineer, is founding partner, president, and chief executive officer of Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Inc. His extensive background and experience as a mechanical engineer brings important insights to solving mechanical system noise and structural vibration problems in buildings. He has served as president of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering and the National Council of Acoustical Consultants, and is a co-chair of American National Standards Institute Committee S12 Noise, Working Group 44 on Speech Privacy.

Joseph A. Wilkes, FAIA, is a registered architect and the editor of the five-volume Encyclopedia of Architecture (Wiley). He has taught at the schools of architecture at the University of Florida and the University of Maryland and has served on the Building Research Advisory Board of the National Academy of Sciences.