KCPC Gymnasium

The Issue

A large church organization in Northern Virginia noticed that the echoes in their multi-purpose room, commonly used as a gym, made it a difficult space to be in—much less communicate in. They contacted Acoustical Solutions and Sales Rep Kevin McIver recommended a simple solution: acoustic panels.

The Challenge

The Korean Central Presbyterian Church (KCPC), located in Northern Virginia just outside of Washington D.C., has extensive facilities ranging two levels that include numerous classrooms, chapels, a sanctuary, worship center, library, bookstore, and multi-purpose room. The multi-purpose room, which is the largest space next to the Worship Center, also had the largest problem with acoustics.

The 1,450 square foot room was all hard, bare surfaces; as is common with gymnasiums.

“It is a pretty large room,” says KJ Kim, KCPC associate, “and with all hard surfaces, we were having trouble with reverb.”

Reverberation is what occurs when hard parallel walls encapsulate a space. Noise energy reflects back and forth between the walls. This creates a loud accumulation of echoes that does not fade for several seconds. This is especially annoying when you are trying to understand speech or hear music.

The Solution

“This is a common problem, and we recommended PolyPhon™ Polyester Acoustic Panels. Acoustic panels are the standard treatment that will lessen reverberation time instantly,” says McIver.

The panels were installed along all the vertical walls in the room to absorb a majority of the sound energy created in the gym, and keep it from reflecting about the room and creating reverberation.

AlphaFlex^® PVC Ceiling Banners were also installed throughout the ceiling to eliminate reverberation between the ceiling and floor.

KCPC Gymnasium using AlphaFlex^® banners and PolyPhon™ wall panels for soundproofing.

The Result

“The panels work great, they have really kept the reverb under control,” says Kim, who mentioned that he would be willing to work with Acoustical Solutions for KCPC’s acoustical needs in the future.