The Challenge:
The safety and security of the students and staff was top of mind when the administrators of Webb City High School decided to renovate the building to create a more secure front entryway.
To accomplish this, Incite Design Studio, of Kansas City, MO, fashioned a new front entryway out of a former secondary entrance and moved all the administrative offices to that side of the building.
The new entryway, which includes a security vestibule, a reception area, and hallway, assures that anyone entering the building has signed in before being allowed to enter the hallway that leads to the rest of the school.
When designing the entryway, the architect needed to find a solution for controlling noise in a way that would enhance the aesthetics of the exposed structure space. “We wanted the front entry to have plenty of design appeal and aesthetic interest,” says design team leader Patrick Smith, “but this is also an area where you have a lot of kids entering and exiting the building at the same time and there is a lot of noise associated with that.”
The Solution:
To accomplish this, the design team specified a series of ACOUSTIBUILT seamless acoustical ceiling clouds from Armstrong Ceiling & Wall Solutions. Suspended above the reception area and hallway, the large, geometric-shaped clouds look like drywall but provide the sound control of a high-performance acoustical ceiling.
“The clouds help mitigate the sound, but there is also a lot of aesthetic value to them,” says Smith. Armstrong provided the ceiling contractor with shop drawings indicating the layout of the Armstrong Drywall Grid System and placement of all the accessories, including linear lighting, diffusers, and trim. Armstrong also provided the custom AXIOM trim used to create the curved radiuses on the corners of the clouds.
“They had all the trim pieces pre-cut, labeled, and ready to go and it just snapped together like a puzzle,” says Scott Martin, of Performance Contracting, Inc., Springfield, MO.
Pleased with the results, school administrators noted that the ceiling clouds have improved both the acoustics and aesthetics of the new entryway. “The clouds have made the hallway much quieter without all the echoes, and we don’t have any problem with hallway noise creeping into our office area,” says assistant superintendent Dr. Kevin Cooper. “It really looks nice and makes the entrance to the high school very professional looking.”
Project: Webb City High School
Architect: Incite Design Studio
Location: Webb City, MO