Acoustic transformation for British International School

The project

Located in the heart of the bustling Singapore Business District, Tanglin Trust School is a British International School catering for students from nursery right through to sixth form (3-18 years). Entering its 90th year educating students from all around the globe, Tanglin Trust School was looking to improve their facilities to provide a state-of-the-art learning environment.

The classrooms

As the classrooms were refurbished, Head of Infant Education Paula Cragie wanted to make sure that the acoustic issues of the classrooms were remedied. Based off the Ministry of Education’s recommendations, Autex set to specify a solution that would bring each classroom’s reverberation time down to 0.6 seconds – allowing a high level of speech intelligibility, and reducing the need for teachers to raise their voices.

Prior to the installation, occupants experienced difficulty at the high end of the frequency spectrum with word intelligibility, making it difficult to decipher what was being said. Sounds not heard on the high end of the frequency spectrum are usually the soft sounding consonants that shape and determine words. This is important when teaching small children, as their ability to understand and learn words is less than that of teenagers or adults.

To bring the reverberation down to the desired level, Autex Composition^® was installed on the walls of the classroom, providing overall sound absorption whilst doubling as a display area. For targeted low frequency absorption, 25mm Quietspace^® Panel was used on the back wall opposite where the teacher stands, allowing low frequency reverberation to be absorbed before bouncing back in towards the teaching space.

The installation

The colours Calypso and Lime were chosen for the classroom because of the moods evoked. Said to inspire feelings of self-reflection and dignity, the deep purple of Calypso is perfect for the learning environment as it encourages students to reflect on their lessons and apply them to real life situations. The calming green of Lime Composition encourages feelings of balance, judgement, and comprehension, as well as calmness and stillness in movement. This is ideal for the learning space as it boosts engagement through evoking a calm, balanced environment, and helps children to feel content and rested when sitting for long periods of time.

The extremely durable nature of Autex Interior Acoustics products means Tanglin Trust School won’t need to worry about damage caused by impact, eliminating the need for continued painting or plastering maintenance. As Composition is a pinnable and ‘hook-n-loop’ receptacle surface, artwork and vital pieces of information can be displayed on the walls without leaving marks or visible holes.

The result

By using Autex products, the school has implemented an innovative acoustic solution that is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and made from 60% recycled material.

Teacher Rosy He states, “speech clarity has been improved during lessons, particularly when those reserved children who are in the front row speak with soft voices, the back row children are now able to hear their answers. Besides this, the sound quality is enhanced; echoes are reduced while singing songs.” It is proven that acoustically treated classrooms result in less sick days for both students and teachers; teachers have less voice strain, and the students experience an increase in academic performance.