Portfolio

College Station, TX

The Texas Board of Regents approved a plan for the Texas A&M University flagship campus in College Station to construct a new $85M innovative academic learning facility to support Texas A&M’s mission to elevate teaching and learning, community enrichment, build a culture of excellence and meet the teaching and learning demands of a growing campus community. The 117,000 SF state-of-the-art facility offers more than 2,200 classroom seats across 10 classrooms ranging from 72 to 600 seats, and includes active learning classrooms, teaching arenas, tiered classrooms, and a traditional large lecture hall. Jaffe Holden provided acoustic design and consultation services.

Our acoustic focus ensured that rooms can be utilized simultaneously without noise disruptions so that spaces can be used to full potential. The JH team worked to maximize sound isolation between adjacent sound sensitive spaces and on internal noise isolation to accommodate the building’s high foot traffic. Round lecture rooms were treated acoustically to ensure appropriate reverberation time but also to minimize sound focusing from concave surfaces.

We conducted a detailed study of the 360-degree projection surfaces in the upper portion of the room, which included an examination of the angling of surfaces as required for sightlines in order to prevent unwanted sound reflections hitting seating areas. We also conducted an environmental noise study to quantify the impact from vehicular traffic and the commercial rail line to the west of the site. The information gathered from this study was used to develop the design to maximize exterior noise isolation. Mechanical systems were carefully designed to ensure compliance with TAMU guidelines for background noise.