Skip to content
The University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
      • Academics
        • Undergraduate Degrees
        • Graduate Degrees
        • Non-degree Programs
        • Enriched Education Experiences
        • Prospective Students
        • New Students
      • Student Life
        • Advising + Help
        • Getting Involved
      • Safety + Wellbeing
        • Health + Wellbeing
      • About SALA
        • The School
        • Faculty
        • Administration
        • Strategic Directions
        • Contact
      • Resources
        • Workshops + Fabrication
        • Library + Resource Collections
        • Media + AV
        • Computing
        • Book Rooms + Devices
        • Online Learning
      • Student Opportunities
        • Mentorship
        • Co-op
        • Student Jobs
        • Professional Development
      • News + Events
        • News
        • Events
        • Lectures
      • Student + Faculty Work
        • Research
        • Projects
      • Margolese National Design for Living Prize Opens in new tab.
  • Research
  • Also in Research
    • Wesbrook Place: A Case Study
    • Ecosystem Services, Natural Capital & Nature’s Benefits in the Urban Region
    • roger that
    • Zippered Wood
    • Canada’s Carbon Corridor
    • The Cold Tube
    • See All Research
  • Recently Visited

VarVac Wall

Blair Satterfield

  • This image has an empty alt attribute, its filename is 01_VarVac_Detail.jpg
  • This image has an empty alt attribute, its filename is 02_VarVac_Mold1.jpg
  • This image has an empty alt attribute, its filename is 03_VarVac_Mold2.jpg
  • This image has an empty alt attribute, its filename is 04_VarVac_Testing_Image.jpg
  • This image has an empty alt attribute, its filename is 05_VarVac_CutPanel.jpg
    SONY DSC
  • This image has an empty alt attribute, its filename is 06_VarVac_Detail2.jpg
  • This image has an empty alt attribute, its filename is 07_VarVac_Finished_Complete.jpg

Cerny and Associates Architects designed the main office at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture in the mid-century modernist style. The room, a hard acoustically live space made of brick, glass, and cast-in-place concrete, was noisy and posed difficulties for individuals working within it. Recognizing this problem, the school asked us to help renovate. Variable Vacuum Forming Wall (VarVac) is a new skin built to cover the brick wall behind the main reception desk. Our goal was to create an acoustically heterogeneous wall that would mediate sound and create an environment more conducive to the work of the staff.

The budget was limited, so we turned to inexpensive materials like wood, plastic, and felt. Our solution was to create a vacuum-formed topographical surface that would disperse or absorb sound in specific locations. This required formal specificity (typically expensive to achieve using traditional vacuum forming strategies). To reduce cost, we developed a strategy that deployed a simple variable mold mad of plywood and wire. Sound mapping and the software Grasshopper were used to generate patterns that were translated to the mold and used to generate a variable surface. The new wall diffuses sound along its length, mediating the problem of focused directional noise. Cuts in the outer skin reveal a sub-dermal layer of absorptive felt. Exposing the felt creates pockets of “quiet” located in specific locations (like the area behind the reception desk). This more completely eliminates ambient noise and creates spaces more conducive to intimate conversations. 

HouMinn Practice w/Philip Bussey

Client: University of Minnesota

Photography of built project: Ryan Lodermeier

Follow all things SALA

  • Open SALA Facebook in new tab
  • Open SALA Instagram in new tab
  • Open SALA YouTube in new tab
Join the SALA Newsletter
The University of British Columbia School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture

School of Architecture + Landscape
Architecture

402–6333 Memorial Road
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z2

+1 604 827 7252

SALA and The University of British Columbia are situated on the the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.

  • UBC Applied Science
  • UBC Copyright
  • Terms of Use