Purdue University Ray W. Herrick Laboratories

This expansion of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories is one of the new scientific research facilities largely funded by NIST under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Herrick Labs is administered by Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering and will be used by the School’s faculty as well as by faculty from Purdue’s new architectural engineering program. Much of the research performed in the new facility will focus on energy conservation and indoor-environmental health.

Soundscape Engineering provided acoustic and vibration consulting services to support design of the new building. With stringent acoustical criteria, floor vibration criteria, siting immediately adjacent to the road, and large areas of exterior window glazing, the Perception Based Engineering Lab was one of the focal points of our efforts on the project. We performed site sound and vibration surveys, helped design the sound isolating constructions, and worked with the project mechanical engineer to attenuate HVAC system noise.

Soundscape also worked with the project team to control noise and vibration associated with the dynamic systems High-Bay test space and its large shakers and with the dynamic systems Fine Scale Test space. Because of the acoustical design challenges and because Herrick Labs is one of the leading university acoustic research facilities, we consider this to be one of Soundscape Engineering’s flagship projects.