Sound of Numbers S.L.

Experiences

Seamless integration

We recently changed from other building acoustics software and our own tools to SONarchitect. To put it in a nutshell, it is now not only possible to predict complex buildings' acoustics, but it is much more fun to simulate building acoustics than ever before. No more quirky graphical user interfaces, but a well designed software that delivers good results.

Looking at the workflow for acoustical prediction from outdoor noise over to building acoustics ending with room acoustics, SONarchitect is the missing piece in the puzzle. This entire workflow chain outputs not only the weighted sound reduction index but frequency dependent results: using CadnaA for outdoor noise, Insul for inhomogeneous constructions, SONarchitect for building acoustics and Odeon for room acoustics.

So far, we have never had the need to read the manual. First of all, it is easy and intuitive to use as the separation in working modes was a clever decision and is implemented very well. There is no wizard-like GUI; I can navigate as I want, back and forth. All menus and dialogues are clear and only needed elements are included. And if there is once a need to understand certain functionality, the tutorial videos are great and explain everything that is needed in detail.

We often have to discuss the results with our clients, in particular the meaning of decibels. Without doubt, if you're not a professional working daily in the field of acoustics, it is definitely a difficult task to imagine different values and results given in decibels. But with the graphical output and the navigation through all paths combined with the 3D auralisation we now can show and play our clients what the results mean in a very effective way.

Marco Kuster

Kuster + Partner AG

Discover SONarchitect

Report generator

Print the results you want and the way you want. SONarchitect provides a ﬂexible report generator. Add your enterprise logo, select a cover image with the 3D model of your building, get a bill of quantities for your budget estimations, include a compliance statement, show the quality classiﬁcation of your building, detail every computation result including components and transmission paths. Or none of them. You can select individual rooms or let SONarchitect select only the worst cases: Yes, indeed, you have computed the acoustic insulation in the entire building, therefore you know they really are the worst!

Airborne and impact noise

With SONarchitect ISO you can compute all the sound insulation values in one-third octave bands in the entire building according to ISO EN 12354:1,2,3,4,6. Results are detailed for every enclosure, separator, flank, and transmission path, and can be interactively explored..

Specify the geometry

Just sketch the plan of every different floor in the building, optionally using a template from a DXF file.

You do not have to tell SONarchitect which are rooms and how, it will automatically detect every room as you draw. Every line becomes a wall, every cross a junction, and every closed shape a new room.

Aid tools allow you to draw normals, specific angles and lengths, ortho lines, and the sticky cursor will help you with clean shapes and correct junctions, also between different floors.

Room specs

You can identify at any time the enclosures of any floor, and tell SONarchitect the use of each room in the building. This determines the aplicable legislation limits to verify the building compliance. Room identification and use can be changed at any time, before or after the computation, without any additional hassle.

Acoustic quality

Interactive detailed performance histograms are provided for every type of room pairing in the building, allowing fast access to and inspection of the sets of average, less than average, better than average, worst and best cases in the building, or the set of rooms in the building with a given level of insulation. You also get feedback on the compliance level of the rooms with respect to configurable sets of limits for the different encounter types, allowing you to check your designs against any Building Code based on the ISO EN 12354.