Owo... what buildings and how they stand, 100 floors...or is it more !! shiny, majestic and making the skyline and city look impressive...and there it stops.
Visiting many western countries few decades ago and subsequently looking at the skyscrapers of the middle east region and Dubai in particular, the very looks of these high rise buildings and their facades made me think that the then existing civil structures in India either look obsolete or do not have the technology adequacy to build in comparison.
West moves East and there you go, India and its metropolitan skyline got filled up with all sizes and shapes of civil structures, and it did not stop there, we also covered them with all kinds of facades and envelopes... and made them look like the order of the day, at least the mimics of the western world, but what the basic intent of these show panels - is this understood?
High rise buildings and their typical glass facades
Some years back we were conducting traffic noise survey in Bangalore on one of the prime CBD streets through which the metro rail line was to pass on the viaduct. This exercise was to determine the baseline noise levels due to road traffic flow and to predict the increased noise levels when the metro rail operates.
One expected probability happened as the outcome of this activity; on to the road itself, there was any notable change to noise levels both due to high ambiance and helped by high density concrete mass as the canopy of the viaduct, nearly preventing noise from the metro rail movements to creep through.
2 years passed and metro rail operations began, the metro noise on the road was minimal as predicted but nearly all the adjoining swanky buildings along the metro line complained that their perception of noise has increased post metro operations, needing validation.
Across 8 different buildings of varying heights, occupation, distance from the road / metro line, one revelation put the whole story to the flash point, that the facades used on the building faces just did not do their job of Noise attenuation.... or is it that these are not the engineered choice for the application; either way, the combined noise of vehicular traffic with metro operations found their way through this acoustically transparent facade panels.
Engineered construction of a window facade
A part of this increased noise perception inside the buildings also comes from the way the viaduct canopy was helping the road traffic noise at an angle that the noise loves to diverge and hit the buildings more effectively than earlier; but most of the problem lies with these so called "show only" facades with very minimum consideration for noise attenuation.
Now I draw parallels to what exists in the west and middle east worlds, something called the stringent building codes that encompasses various aspects of building construction and with specific thrust on noise control into the buildings, that needs to be adhered to strictly.
There you go, we have similar looking high rises, but with either no building code compliance or even if this is supposed to have implemented, the big difference comes from the whole eco-system of its implementation practice.
Typical noise profile of some of acoustic facade panels
Let us look into the basic need and essence of a building facade panel; these are to address direct heat / light, prevent dust ingression and to minimize noise (mostly) from outside to inside of the building; now let us also look into the compromises.
It all starts with the poor understanding of heat, lighting and noise parameters that are to be assessed and determined meticulously at the very early stage of building design. These parameters are mandated by the building codes and are to be strictly adhered and implemented. Both simulation and test-based approach are to be considered to evaluate the Noise reduction requirement upfront.
However, the irony is that from choosing the type of facade material, their valid acoustic properties and finally the physical execution of putting up these panels into place are all much diluted thus resulting in poor noise attenuation and furthermore the issues of dust ingression combined with heat issues.
Multiple test results are available with us for over a dozen glass and other facade materials, specific to their noise properties; sadly, over 60[%] of these acclaimed brands and their samples have shown the Weighted Sound Reduction Index (Rw) or Sound Transmission Class (STC) and other qualifier values to have greatly deviated from the marketing claims and published specifications.
Rw / STC testing of a acoustic partition
The other significant contributing factor for poor noise isolation is the low-quality workmanship during installation; clearances, gasket and seals, window/s and other openable let outs are all traded for building completion deadlines and other milestone time pressures. This, combined with aliasing of "architect becoming the acoustic consultant" greatly compromises on the overall installed performance of noise parameters.
Glass facades can lose their acoustic performance over time when exposed to direct, intense sunlight, primarily due to the degradation of its internal components rather than the glass itself. Acoustic glass typically relies on a laminated structure—two or more panes of glass sandwiched around a specialized interlayer, such as Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) or Acoustic PVB. While this interlayer is excellent for sound damping, it is susceptible to degradation over time
The above factor leads to if the selections made initially are validated for all their endurance and longevity factors or the cost and compromises are the only decision factors!
To conclude, look alike are not performance alike!!, next is our practices of bad workmanship, maintenance and cost as the factor of approach. Unless a holistic qualitative approach and process is put into place, we get this near irreversible problem sticking to our backs!
Bleed the Noise, it bleeds money, quality and sense in the longer run.