Roma

The Issue

With severely limited wall and ceiling space, Roma only had a very small gap with which to acoustically treat its dining room. Acoustical Solutions, however, was able to provide Sonex^® Contour Acoustic Foam Panels that used a little space to help in a lot of ways.

The Sonex^® Contour Acoustic Foam Panel which is used in various soundproofing and noise control situations, worked perfectly for echo reduction, noise reduction and reverberation control in Roma.

Another goal was to have the foam wall panels blend in. Can you spot them in the gallery images?

The Challenge

Roma, an Italian restaurant in Richmond, Virginia had just moved to a new location and paid to have the ceiling and all of the walls beautifully decorated and painted. This wasn’t just any paint job either.

Thanks to some very skilled hands, the ceiling was transformed into a beautiful blue sky while the walls, one of which boasted Rome’s Coliseum, morphed into partitions that now look as if they’ve been imported from Italy.

So when management at Roma contacted Acoustical Solutions, they—understandably—weren’t prepared to compromise any of the newly detailed wall or ceiling space.

The problem was that Roma definitely needed acoustical treatment. Echoes and reverberation in the restaurant’s dining room made for a very uncomfortable eating environment.

The only space Roma’s limitations left for Acoustical Solutions to work with was a strip of wall running the length of the dining room, which was only about two feet high at its highest point.

The Solution

After taking into account factors such as ease in cutting and customizing, sound absorption-per-square-foot and ability to blend in, Acoustical Solutions recommended Sonex^® Contour Panels.

Sonex^® Acoustic Foam is lightweight, easy to cut and shape, and, most importantly, an extremely effective sound absorber. It is especially beneficial in restaurant settings because sound absorption is the main factor when it comes to reducing echoes.

Echoes in restaurants are a problem because large numbers of people are often concentrated into relatively small spaces, and these spaces, more times than not, are made up of hard, flat, parallel surfaces which bounce sound waves back and forth.

The acoustic foam in Roma works by absorbing these sound waves before they have the chance to bounce or reverberate.

Additionally, Roma’s foam wall panels are positioned close to the restaurant’s relatively high ceiling. Because no people or furniture are high enough to block some of the bouncing waves close to high ceilings, the waves tend to get stuck and reverberate for longer periods of time. When the foam is installed in that space, however, the waves are absorbed.

Roma Restaurant—Restaurant dining room using Sonex^® Acoustical Foam on upper walls to reduce noise levels.

The Result

Although Acoustical Solutions and Roma only had a very narrow strip of space with which to work, materials used, as well as material placement, made for a very successful acoustic treatment. Echoes and reverberation were reduced, the beautiful paintings weren’t touched, and there might just be fewer headaches at mealtime in Roma.