By incorporating Class A acoustic materials in its wing panels, the new Foil luminaire from Whitecroft Lighting addresses acoustic issues in the increasing number of classrooms, offices and other spaces where soffits are exposed to exploit the building's thermal mass.Designed to provide cost-effective compliance with DfES BB93, ‘Acoustic Design of Schools' (see below), Foil provides a fully integrated solution encompassing high quality lighting, acoustic absorption and containment for additional services that would otherwise be visible and unsightly.
Exposed soffits, now used in a wide range of buildings. enable the building's thermal mass to be fully exploited by natural ventilation systems, minimising temperature fluctuations and reducing energy consumption. In classrooms, however, lack of a mineral fibre ceiling to absorb noise can necessitate the use of expensive (around £1000 per classroom) wall lining to ensure compliance with DfES document BB93, ‘Acoustic Design of Schools'. This requires a mid frequency reverberation time of <0.8 seconds in secondary school classrooms and <0.6 in primary) classrooms for good speech intelligibility.
Foil delivers an 80:20 light distribution for a high quality lit environment, while its perforated side panels (available in 600mm and 800M widths) are lined with Class A acoustic materials which, in most cases, deliver the full acoustic performance needed with no need for wall linings. In addition, extra segregated cable conduits facilitate through-wiring of electrical services such as smoke detectors, loud speakers and projectors. Sprinkler heads can be integrated into infill panels.
The Foil aesthetic is in harmony with classroom geometry and the knife edge design ensures a light visual weight that makes it ideal for a wide range of other applications.
