KUBO’s employees have meetings under stylish and acoustic artwork

Glass

When you walk into KUBO’s office, you will quickly understand what the architect envisioned: greenhouses are made of glass so this office will emanate exactly that. The many windows do not only offer a spacious feeling, they also provide ample daylight as well as transparency. But an extensive use of glass also has a few downsides. All sound reflections are exaggerated which means there is a higher chance the acoustic experience becomes unpleasant. KUBO was looking for a way to solve that problem whilst at the same time adding to the space’s atmosphere. This is where Merford joined in on the creative process and ended up supplying sound absorbing materials for the hanging pieces of art.

Cylinder baffles

KUBO’s Facility Coordinator Richard van Burgeler explains: ‘We have an incredible head office that consists of multiple floors. The ground floor has been designed beautifully, as have the three other spacious levels that make up the building. Each one of the floors has walls full of greenery and large open plan mezzanines. The mezzanines are surrounded by steel frames and glass, and have been placed in such a way it seems one can overlook the entire office from each floor. It looks very impressive but simultaneously is prone to acoustic difficulties. The building was constructed in 2014 and at the time the architect had a steel artwork made for one of the areas. Merford supplied the Flamex cylinder baffles and melamine foam for the piece. In 2020, some of the meeting rooms were adjusted as one of them was decorated with a similar piece of art placed under the mezzanine. This type of art functions both as an aesthetic showpiece and as an acoustics improver. The baffles in the last piece have been placed horizontally instead of vertically, giving it an extra dimension.’

 

Richard van Burgeler (KUBO): ‘In the past it was challenging to conduct meetings in that specific area because of the distracting sound reflections. However, the baffles in the artwork have really turned that around.'

 

Aesthetics and acoustics

All parties involved had to pioneer. Steel and melamine foam are not usually combined in one object. But with hard work and dedication we ended up creating exactly what we had in mind. Van Burgeler is deeply impressed with the artwork’s effect, both aesthetically and acoustically. ‘In the past it was challenging to conduct meetings in that specific area because of the distracting sound reflections. However, the baffles in the artwork have really turned that around. The space itself has now also been lifted by the piece. We could not be more pleased with the result.’