There is no shortage of reasons for difficult conditions in student reality and Polish schools. Excessive noise appears somewhere at the end of this list. Meanwhile, a problem that cannot be seen, although it can be heard, significantly translates into the well-being of children. How to ensure that they have comfortable conditions? Warsaw's High School No. 163 demonstrates with an example of acoustics and colors.
No one needs to be convinced of the fact that schoolchildren are overloaded. The onslaught of learning and extra-curricular activities, the lack of teachers, social media distractions and, finally, the conditions in the schools themselves. Starting in 2019, there was a double yearbook in high schools every year, related to education reforms. As a result, classes of more than 30 students, crowding and noise during lessons, in corridors or cafeterias. The negative effects on children's well-being are obvious.
The Ministry of Education is already introducing reforms to make schools more supportive and student-friendly. All difficulties cannot be solved quickly and simultaneously. However, schools have a direct impact on indoor conditions. They can introduce solutions that will improve the comfort of students. Regardless of whether the school is built from scratch or is just a minor renovation.
A high school in Warsaw from Plus3 Architects knows how to ask for students
For the first time in many years, I can finally talk to students in the corridor and hear what we are saying to each other, stresses Izabela Nowacka, director of high school No. 163 in the capital's Wesoła district. And, as she adds, friendly acoustics are a great comfort not only for students, but also in the work of teachers. "In any school, it is not only education itself that is important, but also the general well-being of everyone who is in the school on a daily basis. Without physical comfort or good mental condition, no educational efforts will be successful," stresses director Izabela Nowacka.
The facility completed by the City of Warsaw, which Izabela Nowacka heads, is a one-story building, but not a small one: 20 classrooms, a library, a cafeteria, an auditorium with over 200 seats. Well, and hundreds of meters of corridors - in terms of student comfort, these are excessive noise zones in any school. That's why the largest number of noise-absorbing ceiling panels and wall coverings were used in the passageways
from the Heradesign line from Knauf Ceiling Solutions.
Acoustic panels on ceilings in schools are being used with increasing frequency. Buildings are appearing in which Heradesign panels are also planned by architects for the walls of gymnasiums or auditoriums. But at High School No. 163, the management and designers, went a step further in thinking about the comfort of students - the tiles were also planned for most vertical parts of the corridors: walls, mezzanines, staircases," explains Romulad Wilk of Knauf Ceiling Solutions.
The choice of solution was quite obvious, Heradesign Superfine panels with an additional acoustic layer have the highest possible sound absorption coefficient αw = up to 1.00.
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowski
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowski
The school houses nearly 600 students every day. The interiors support them not only in terms of acoustics. The school has large, panoramic glazing, allowing sunlight to stream into the interiors. Students can also enjoy the indoor green patio, and the trees adjacent to the facility also have a soothing effect on the eyesight.
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowski
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowski
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowski
The environment, attachment to nature and attention to ensuring that the school's interiors do not "add to" the overexposure of young people were also behind the choice of design colors. Plus3 Architects opted for calm, subdued hues: starting with gray-colored floors, white walls, and Heradesign panels made of undyed wood wool.
In terms of technical performance, wood wool acoustic panels and facings not only perfectly reduce noise levels, but also, due to their high level of sound insulation, ensure that unwanted noises do not penetrate between rooms. In addition, they are very resistant to mechanical damage. That's why the designers also planned them for a sports hall of as much as 700 sqm, which was built next to the school.
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowski
Other "green" solutions, friendly to people and the environment, also appeared in the high school building, including heat pumps, photovoltaic panels placed on the roof, and protecting against excessive sunlight - reflectors in the windows.
New quality in Polish schools
Warsaw's high school in the Wesoła district is another educational institution on the map of Polish acoustically friendly schools. Three years ago, an educational complex was launched at Wiczlinska Street in Gdynia: a combined primary and high school building. The architects planned the facility with a focus on the well-being of students. The duo of two studios: Piotr Hardecki Architekt and LWS Architects, among others, relied on Heradesign panels in calm tones.
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowsk.
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowsk
The same goes for the school complex No. 13 in Lublin. Although here there were a lot of energetic color accents, such as lemon-colored school furniture and floors. The Lublin facility was designed jointly with the local government by architect Michal Ottomanski. In classrooms, the entire ceilings are covered with reverberation-absorbing panels. Does it really make a difference to learning? According to analysis by the Department of Building Engineering and Research at Herriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, as a result of excessive noise, students cannot hear up to 70 percent of the consonants pronounced by teachers.
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowsk
Photo for Knauf Ceiling Solutions Bartosz Makowsk
Quick acoustic adaptation so that students are not fatigued by noise does not require a general overhaul of the entire facility and skyrocketing expenses. Acoustic solutions available on the market, such as free-hanging panels so-called acoustic islands or vertical Baffles, help achieve sound reduction of even approx. 18-20 dB. Installation of 10 acoustic islands in a school corridor or common room costs approx. PLN 4,000.
