Acoustic Profiles
01. Lucinda’s Dorm Room 1411, Cäsar-Ritz-Strasse 1 (~1400 m2)
My room, like any other dorm room, is primarily a private space for sleeping, studying, and resting. Acoustically, it is quite balanced with internally produced sounds, not completely dry or too reverberant. Its small size makes it feel intimate. The furniture provides absorptive surfaces that limit some reverberation, but the room remains somewhat reflective due to its predominantly hard surfaces. When it’s quiet outside, the room feels comfortable and calm. In the morning, I sometimes open the window to hear birds chirping, while at night the low hum of traffic acts as a pleasant, unobtrusive white noise.
What is most striking is how easily sound travels through the building. The concrete all around amplifies any noise made outside a bedroom as it reflects and overlaps. Sounds from the communal kitchen are particularly noticeable. The space’s large volume and high ceiling produce echo and bring muffled, reverberant conversations into my room. Kitchen parties can get on my nerves, as the noise is unpredictable and uncontrollable. Sudden high-frequency screams or screeches can startle me, while prolonged medium-frequency sounds varying in amplitude become frustrating. The dorm room takes no acoustic measures to block the outside soundscape.
The hallway produces more identifiable sounds, such as approaching footsteps and doors opening and closing. In contrast, once someone enters a neighbouring room, I cannot hear them. The closed room boundaries provide much better sound insulation. When everything is quiet, I can hear the very high-frequency, extremely low-amplitude electrical buzz from my slightly malfunctioning phone charger.
02. Bike Room, Ground Floor, Cäsar-Ritz-Strasse 1 (~15148 m2)
The bike room is much larger and more communal than my dorm room. Its high ceiling, concrete walls, floor, and columns create a very reverberant acoustic environment. The many bikes provide some scattered surfaces, but not enough absorption to significantly reduce reverberation. Unlike in my room, voices become increasingly difficult to understand as the sound source moves further away.
At the time of observation, it was nighttime and the space was quiet. The most consistent sounds were the low-frequency hum of the HVAC system and the intermittent sound of running water from the exposed overhead pipes. Occasionally, someone entering the neighbouring laundry room produced footsteps and a louder, short door-shutting sound. When one person entered while I was listening, their footsteps became a moving sound source, travelling through and echoing across the room. There were no high-frequency sounds while I was there.
Emotionally, the space sounded empty despite its abundance of bikes. It felt somewhat detached and impersonal. At the same time, the evening quiet and lack of unpredictable noises felt peaceful, while the HVAC provided a continuous acoustic baseline.
(I’m having difficulty transferring the recording audio… Hopefully solved by 1.10)
Room Acoustics
01. Lucinda’s Dorm Room
The dorm room is a relatively small residential space with a hard architectural shell and localized absorption provided mainly by the bed and clothing. The room combines reflective concrete and painted surfaces with soft furnishings that reduce some sound reflections.
Reflective surfaces include a concrete ceiling (14 m2), hard wood-finished floor (~14 m2), undulating concrete wall behind the bed and around the closet (~6 m2), and other painted walls (~20 m2). Absorptive elements include the bed and mattress (~2 m2), pillows (.4 m2), and clothing (~3 m2).
The room’s absorptive elements are concentrated around the bed and walk-in closet. The undulating concrete surface behind the bed and on the exterior of the walk-in closet is a notable feature. Its irregular geometry may scatter sound rather than reflecting it in a single direction, although its hard cement material means that it should not be considered a significant absorber.
Expected Acoustic Character
The dorm room would likely sound moderately live, particularly at mid and high frequencies, because of its hard ceiling, floor, and walls. The bed, pillows, and clothing should reduce some reverberation, but their localized distribution means that the room is unlikely to sound completely dead.
02. Bike Room
The bike room is a large, elongated space with concrete walls, floor, ceiling, and cylindrical columns. Unlike the dorm room, the bike room contains effectively no soft materials. Thus, its acoustic character is defined by hard, reflective surfaces.
Reflective surfaces include the concrete floor (~152 m2), concrete walls (~170 m2), concrete ceiling (~152 m2), and cylindrical concrete pillars (~24 m2). Some reflective and scattering surfaces include bicycles (numerous, arranged in rows) and ceiling pipes (~15 m2).
There are virtually no absorbers, whether built-in or brought-in. The concrete enclosure therefore dominates its acoustic response. The bicycles introduce geometric complexity, scattering sound and interrupting some reflection paths. Similarly, the cylindrical concrete pillars arrayed within the room redirect sound in different directions as well.
Expected Acoustic Character
The bike room would likely sound highly reverberant and potentially echo-y as its large volume and extensive hard concrete surfaces provide little sound absorption. While its elongated geometry encourages repeated reflections along the room, the bicycles and cylindrical pillars scatter some sound and may soften distinct echoes.
