Design solutions to optimise acoustic requirements for specific work activities in open-plan offices

A high level of concentration is required in open-plan offices, which entails an optimized acoustic environment. The aim is to create a fit-employee environment in which speech privacy is guaranteed without compromising the sense of cooperation among occupants. The purpose of this study is to investigate the design solutions which optimize the acoustic requirements of ISO 3382-3 for a specific work activity defined in ISO 22955, such as non-collaborative work, collaborative work between people and mixed between collaborative and non-collaborative. The case study is one open-plan office occupied by 12 workers, which was not compliant with the standard. Acoustic measurements were used to calibrate the acoustic model in the Odeon software. Two screen and cubicle heights, three types of ceilings and two wall absorption configurations have been tested in a matrix of solutions for the office in the simulation model. This allowed us to investigate the design solutions that guarantee optimal values for the acoustical parameters chosen for each specific activity.