Benjamin Markham
President
The Godfrey Hotel is a new 242-room luxury hotel, located in two restored historic buildings in Boston’s Downtown Crossing Neighborhood.
The Blake and Amory buildings’ Gothic facades were built in 1904 and 1908 by architect Arthur Hunnewell Bowditch. The renovated hotel features 242 rooms, a craft bar, fitness center, meeting room, coffee shop, and restaurant. The developers, Oxford Capital Group, hired Acentech to advise on acoustical separation throughout the building.
Acentech took measurements of the sound isolation in the existing building, predicted the acoustical performance of upgrade constructions based on the design plans, and tested a mock-up of the rooms to confirm these predictions. Acentech’s consultants recommended changes and upgrades, including a resilient underlayment under the mostly non-carpeted floors to reduce footfall impact noise from one room to another.
The merging of two existing office buildings with different structural conditions provided a challenge to the design team as years of renovations meant that existing finishes and treatments in individual rooms differed greatly. Sealing the walls against sound required Acentech to collaborate with the owner, contractor, architect, and subcontractors to address specific situations.
After construction was complete, Acentech revisited the hotel to take more measurements, ensuring that the sound isolation met the goals set out at the start of the project.
