Achievement Academy Charter School, Albany, NY – Provided acoustical designs for the gymnasium, cafeteria, media center and two-story entrance atrium. The gymnasium presented particular challenges, since the mechanical engineer had located five roof-top air handling units on the gym roof. This raised major concerns about compressor vibration and duct breakout noise in the gym below. Novus developed special designs to minimize duct break-out noise and to prevent fan and compressor noise from entering the space below.

Temple Ohav Shalom, Albany, NY – Provided acoustical design for the complete rehabilitation of the temple sanctuary. Working closely with the architect, Novus developed a scheme including an attractive coffered ceiling, and intermittent wall panels located in a grid of fabric covered hard wall panels to provide visual continuity. Novus also recommended keeping a natural wood, accordian-fold room divider, which reduced the project budget and retained an important acoustical feature.

GlobalFoundries Chip Fab Project, Malta, NY – Conducted both environmental noise modeling and monitoring services.  Prior to construction, Novus worked on the development of satisfactory environmental noise limits to apply during construction and final operation, and modeled the proposed operating conditions using CadnaA (DataKustik) simulation software to predict noise levels at various locations and to determine potential mitigation techniques to reduce unwanted operating noise.  During construction, Novus made multiple visits to the site to measure noise levels of construction equipment and plant operations.  Novus will continue to monitor the noise levels throughout construction and start-up to verify the accuracy of the modeling work and to confirm project compliance with Town noise guidelines.

Brighter Choice Schools, Albany, NY – Conducted architectural acoustical analyses for a number of schools, resulting in design recommendations for typical problem spaces such as gymnasiums, cafeterias, music rooms, and libraries.  Novus reviewed both estimated reverberation times for critical spaces and Sound Transmission Class (STC) ratings for partitions between adjoining spaces.  Novus presented recommendations to reduce the reverberation times or increase the STC ratings for various assemblies.

Nathan Kline Research Institute, Rockland Psychiatric Center, Orangetown, NY – Provided acoustical and sound system design recommendations to improve acoustics in a series of three lecture halls that open up into one large space for large group meetings. The design included an arched ceiling, which created significant acoustical and speech intelligibility problems.

New York State Department of Transportation, Region 1 Headquarters Building, Schenectady, NY – Provided design recommendations for new building envelope to minimize noise impact of nearby freight line on office workers. Provided commissioning services for new offices to verify that HVAC system noise met specific performance standards in the design specification.

Rondout Valley Middle School, Rondout, NY – Acoustical design of new band room. In order to reduce construction costs, this project re-used acoustical panels taken from the old band room.

SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY - The McKenna Theater is well known for its exceptional acoustics for both music and stage productions. The campus architect wanted to know whether a planned project to upgrade the wood veneer finishes in the hall would adversely affect the hall‘s acoustics. Novus carried out an evaluation and concluded that there would be no impact. The improvements were carried out and the acoustics remained unchanged, as predicted.

SUNY Canton, Canton, NY – Acoustical design for a new, multi-use theater, gymnasium, and meeting rooms.

Met Life, Rensselaer Technology Park, North Greenbush, NY - Noise from an in-house fitness center and showering facilities were carrying over into adjacent office areas and disturbing working employees. Novus carried out an investigation and prepared plans and specifications for modifications to wall systems, doors and plenum spaces designed to reduce transmission of noise from the fitness center to office spaces. The work was carried out and the noise problem was eliminated.

Saint Mary’s Church, Cooperstown, NY - Novus provided a design for a new speaker system and assistive listening devices.

Harrisena Community Church, Queensbury, NY - A recently built church hall was excessively reverberant. When used by gatherings of more than a few people, background noise levels increased to very high levels, which made it uncomfortable for the occupants. Novus prepared a computer model of the room and prepared specifications for modifications to the ceiling to improve the acoustics. The modifications were installed and the room can now be used without limitation.

New York State Assembly, Albany, NY - The Assembly operated two print shops containing a large variety of printing, collating, and binding equipment which generated considerable noise. Novus carried out measurement of occupational noise exposure to workers to determine whether levels exceeded OSHA action levels.

Camp Pinnacle, Berne, NY - Camp Pinnacle is a children’s camp containing a large dining hall. When filled with children, noise levels in the dining hall reached uncomfortable levels. Novus prepared an acoustical analysis of hall and prepared recommendations for architectural modifications designed to shorten the reverberation time and reduce background noise levels.