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LEED: The Sound of |
LEED, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System™ is a third party certification program for buildings developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is the nationally accepted standard against which buildings are judged for their environmental sustainability. Most LEED projects are designed by LEED Accredited Professionals, architects and designers who have passed the USGBC’s extensive green training and certification process. Projects are judged on a points-based system and can achieve the entry level LEED Certification to the highest ranking, LEED Platinum.
Acoustics By Design is a member firm of the U.S. Green Building Council, and our president, Kenric Van Wyk, PE, is a LEED Accredited Professional, with a wide variety of green buildings and LEED projects to his credit.
Working with an acoustical consultant can help contribute to LEED points in several categories. For example, some acoustical products can double as thermal insulators, serving two purposes for the price of one (acoustical absorption and thermal efficiency). Other products can help earn points for their percentage of recycled content and waste management. Additional points may be accrued by employing acoustic features that contribute to the indoor environmental quality of the facility. Acoustics By Design has extensive experience working with a wide variety of LEED projects. View our portfolio to see some of our completed LEED Projects.
LEED for Schools
Recently, acoustical credits have been issued in LEED for Schools. Now education facilities that meet the Acoustical Performance Prerequisite can earn an additional point for acoustical performance alone. The new ANSI S12.60 document has over thirty pages of detailed acoustical design guidelines, and our professional engineers can help you sort through the details to earn every point. We anticipate acoustical performance criteria to be a future trend in the other LEED Categories as well.
A new potential LEED category, LEED for Healthcare, has been released for public comment and may be adopted in the near future. Acoustical credits have already been included in another building rating system, The Green Guide for Health Care, and this continues the trend of including acoustics as a critical element of patient care and satisfaction.
Good architectural acoustics can make your facility last longer. By reducing reverberation and background noise levels we can improve the speech intelligibility and sustainability of your facility. Our independent acoustical consultants work closely with architects, engineers, facilities managers, and building owners to design proper acoustical environments that help in the LEED certification process.
Green Audio-Visual Design
Every business needs flexibility in their communication methods. Equipping your facility with advanced audio-visual presentation tools and technology will make it relevant for years to come and enable it to meet future needs. Our AV Consultants will meet with you and your team to develop a plan that addresses your specific technical goals without going overboard with extras and add-ons. We design technical systems that lead to green business practices. Enhanced video conferencing technology can create opportunities for distance learning and remote meetings, thereby reducing fuel costs and consumption.
Acoustical Green Space
Acoustics By Design is a leader in the acoustical design community for creating sustainable facilities. In addition to the numerous LEED projects in our portfolio, our current Green Initiative puts theory into practice to reduce our own corporate carbon footprint. Every employee’s “green ideas” help to improve energy efficiency and environmental quality of life. These organic solutions improve all of our offices, further solidifying our commitment to the environment.
Our acoustical consulting firm does not represent any product manufacturers, suppliers, or other service providers. Accordingly, our clients can be assured our acoustical consultants’ recommendations are unbiased, free from any conflicts of interest, and focused only on the most appropriate design solutions.
