Fortunately, firms such as Acentech, a multidisciplinary acoustical consulting firm with offices along the East Coast as well as one in Los Angeles, provide architectural acoustics, A/V design, noise control and vibration control for a variety of commercial interior settings. The firm is also deep into the educational market, including a flagship project now underway in New Haven: the new Science Building at Yale University.

The new seven-story, 277,550-square-foot, facility was designed by architecture firms Pelli Clarke Pelli and Stantec (both of which have offices in New Haven), and reimagines the existing J.W. Gibbs Laboratory into a state-of-the-art center for collaborative scientific research. The new building will include a 500-seat lecture hall, aquatics and insect labs, quantitative biology center, imaging suites, shared commons and a rooftop greenhouse. To wit, it will be loud. To address the noise, Acentech is providing highly absorptive finishes, wall construction and even mechanical system noise control.

The facility includes a large lecture hall with sophisticated audiovisual systems, including video conferencing capabilities and support for cinema presentations with surround sound and numerous meeting and collaboration spaces for building users. There will also be smaller student gathering spaces distributed among the professors’ private offices to encourage interaction between faculty and students in an organic manner.

Chief among the concerns Acentech is addressing is the possibility of sounds emanating from one environment wreaking havoc on another. Sensitive laboratory equipment that is susceptible to noise or the vibrations certain noises can produce can become problematic to a variety of research situations. Acentech’s collective, holistic approach to acoustics, A/V, IT infrastructure and security systems will endeavor to mitigate the possibility that such disturbances. For example, video projectors are notorious for their buzzing or the wheezing of their cooling fans — a minor, if an irritating issue on most occasions, but then, most occasions don’t involve an electron microscope and researchers doing delicate research work. Interference on that level can interfere with the validity and accuracy of work being done, which is unacceptable to a center of higher education of Yale’s caliber.

In a report filed by the National Institutes of Health technical bulletin, several factors must be evaluated to determine whether the overall environment for an electromagnetic microscope meets the equipment operating conditions. “Vibration, noise, temperature control, pressure differentials, electrical equipment magnetic fields and radio frequency noise” are among them.

“We are proud of our strong reputation in the education marketplace and truly enjoy collaborating with our clients in school communities,” said Acentech President Jeffrey Zapfe in a statement. “As consultants, when you create a connection with your clients and understand the why of a project, the process becomes far more meaningful and successful. We are extremely proud of these projects and look forward to seeing these facilities contribute to and inspire the education of future generations of students.”

Completion of the Science Building at Yale University is expected by the end of 2019.

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An independent college-preparatory school for students from pre-K through 12th grade, the Dwight-Englewood School maintains an enrollment of approximately 900 students. To offer these students top quality STEM-based education, the Hajjar STEM Center will house eight new labs and seven classrooms for physics, biology, chemistry, robotics, and mathematics. The approximately 27,000 square foot building will also be home to the STEM faculty, a student greenhouse and a flexible school gathering space/robotics workspace.

“The growing global focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has created an urgent need to prepare our children, our future leaders, to become innovators in these STEM fields and to learn the way of thinking that engaged study with STEM accomplish,” Head of School Dr. Rodney V. De Jarnett said in an address at the groundbreaking. “Our School’s belief that we must educate our children to ‘meet the challenges of a changing world and make it better’ remains the driving force behind this vision.”

The facility was designed by international architecture firm Gensler, which also completed projects such as St. Phillip’s Academy in Newark, N.J. and the D’Angelo Center at St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y. However, the design process was highly collaborative, involving Gensler architects and numerous members of the Dwight-Englewood School community.

According to an article on the project by Gensler education practice area leader Mark Thaler, the team met with educators to discuss their curricula and to understand how their facilities supported academic approaches, then designed the building with an emphasis on how specific areas would interact with each other. De Jarnett and a group of key stakeholders also visited more than a dozen STEM facilities throughout the region to glean design inspiration.

International construction firm Gilbane Building Company was selected to serve as the project’s construction manager, and expects to completion the new facility by the fall of 2015.

“We’re thrilled to create this unique, innovative learning environment for students that will restructure the school’s math and science curriculum,” said Ed Stevenson, Gilbane’s senior project executive, in a release. “We’ll work to ensure the STEM Building is a great source of pride for the Dwight-Englewood community for years to come.”

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