Robert Connick
Healthcare | Market Co-Leader
Principal
Unsatisfied with the levels of speech privacy and mechanical system noise in their former offices in Lexington, MA, Cimpress/Vistaprint made acoustics a priority when designing their new headquarters in nearby Waltham.
The LEED Silver designed facility boasts 300,000 SF over five floors, and includes open plan workstations as well as closed offices, conference rooms, a state-of-the-art telepresence room, video production studio, and support spaces such as fitness room and cafeteria.
Acentech’s services began with baseline testing at the former offices of Vistaprint, which informed the acoustical design criteria for the new space. Noise Reduction (NR) tests were performed to measure the sound isolation between spaces, due to intervening walls, doors, glazed areas, and workstation panels. Following these tests, Acentech drafted acoustical design criteria and recommended constructions, room finishes, and background noise levels toward achieving those.
The unique aspect of this project was that the client preferred not to use electronic sound masking systems, which resulted in more stringent sound isolation and rooms acoustics requirements toward achieving a degree of speech privacy otherwise provided with the help of sound masking. With Acentech’s assistance, the client was able to meet these goals.