Wow, it is hard to believe that we started Thorburn Associates 19 years ago! Like other great Silicon Valley firms, our garage was our first office. We started TA just as the early 1990’s recession was ending in the San Francisco Bay area and we never looked back, except to learn from our experiences and celebrate our successes! Over the last 19 years, we have been honored to have worked on over 2,000 different projects of all types. Some were small two-hour projects, where you would come into our office or send us an email with a quick gut-check or question and others are the typical multi-year project with many phases, starts and stops, drawing reviews, team meetings and construction site visits.

In celebration of our 19 years, we are going to take a slight detour from our normal newsletter format and take the time to look back at a few of the most memorable projects that our team identified in a company-wide meeting held last month. These projects highlight the diverse range of work with which we are involved and some of the challenges we have overcome. If you want to ask about any of these projects give us a call or you can find us participating at the following events.

• School & College Building Expo - Chicago, IL, April 12 - 14
• SMPS Pacific Regional Conference - Sacramento, CA, April 14 - 15
• SAME Hampton Roads Small Business Conference - Virginia Beach, VA, April 18
• Hospitality & Design Expo - Las Vegas, NV, May 18 - 20
• Educause Southeast Regional Conference - Charlotte, NC, June 1 - 3
• InfoCOMM - Orlando, FL, June 11 - 17

As always, it is our goal to make sure that Thorburn Associates is your single point of contact for all your Technology and Acoustical Design services. If you have an idea, question, or suggestions, please drop us a note at enews@ta-inc.com.

The importance of acoustics is often forgotten until a building is completed. However, the 2010 California Green Building Standards Code (CalGreen Code) which took effect January 1, 2011 made it mandatory for all new construction in California (non-residential and residential up to three stories) to comply with certain acoustical control standards. Why should you care – especially if you do not live or work in California? Well when it comes to building codes, as California goes, so does the rest of the country – at some point.

The CalGreen Code is the 11th part of the California Code of Regulations, Title 24, held by the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) and contains five categories addressing sustainable construction. Acoustics is addressed under the fifth category: Environmental Quality.

Standard 5.507.4 Acoustical Control is mandatory for all new non-residential buildings and addresses both exterior noise and interior sound.

• The exterior noise measure requires buildings within 1000 feet of freeways, within 5 miles of most airports, or with property lines within sound levels regularly exceeding 65 dB to have a building envelop with a minimum rating of STC 50 and exterior windows with a minimum rating of STC 30.


• The interior sound measure requires wall and floor-ceiling assemblies separating tenant spaces from other tenant spaces or public spaces to have a minimum rating of STC 40. Standard 5.507.5 addresses voluntary acoustical control measures for public schools and community colleges and follows the LEED for Schools design guidelines, addressing background noise levels and reverberation times.

So it is now, at least in California, no longer enough to be green or sustainable. The CBSC now requires that the acoustical environment be addressed when buildings are sited in noisy areas so that sound levels are kept low enough to carry out activities without the distraction or discomfort of unwanted noise.

We’d be happy to answer any questions regarding the acoustics portion of the code. You can download a full copy at:

www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/bsc/CALGreen/2010_CA_Green_Bldg.pdf

Following up on our Acoustics and Audiovisual in Architecture sessions we held in various U.S locations in 2000, we have modified and updated some of our other training sessions to create an all day, action packed session to look at what is needed for today’s classrooms and learning environments. While aimed at college level classrooms, the information can be applied to all learning spaces, from corporate conference rooms to K-12 spaces. So far, with two of the five scheduled sessions completed, the reviews have been extremely positive. It is not too late to sign up for the next session in Chicago, just prior to the School and College Building Expo. www.TA-Inc.com/planning

Are you planning classroom renovations or a new building? This session will help you and your team plan for, and ask the questions needed, to make sure your students, facility, and staff have what is needed when you open the doors for education.

The flavor of the session was discussed in an article that appeared in the March 2011 issue of School Planning and Management Magazine. A copy of the article can be downloaded here: http://www.ta-inc.com/PDF/Articles/ThorburnSchoolPlanning.pdf

We hope to see you at one of the upcoming sessions!

Imax / Large format / Planetariums and other Specialty Theatres - This is really where it all started. Steve has worked on a number of other cinema projects and post production houses and movie based themed parks. Over the years, we have been part of over 90 different projects which used film as the primary or a major component of the story.

Space Shuttle Launch Blast Berm - We were part of the team that evaluated the impact of an earthen berm on the Shuttle Launch Vehicle. Following the 9/11 security improvements, the outer perimeter fence was being damaged by flying debris (a normal part of every launch). NASA wanted to construct an earthen berm to protect the fence but was concerned that reflection of sound off the berm would impact the launch vehicle, as the launch vehicle lifted off the pad. Fortunately, it was one of those great, non-problems. Our engineering calculations indicated that because the shuttle lifts off so fast, by the time the sound would return to a point in the flight path for the primary reflection, the SSLV would be well past that point!

HP Briefing Center - We have had the good fortune of working over and over again with a number of our clients. Hewlett Packard is one of those clients for whom we have completed over 70 different projects (to date). The Cupertino Campus Executive Briefing Center was one of the more notable and larger projects. Though this project was back in 2000, the center’s rooms were controlled by an AMX networked control system; at the time the largest IP networked control system in existence. This and the in-room video monitoring systems for catering, allowed the staff of the EBC to view into the rooms and control (i.e. fix something) from any point on the campus when the call for help came up.

Themed Projects - As was stated earlier, this is how it started, it is fun getting paid to go to six different theme parks, around the world, as you are planning and studying them for the next new one. We provide everything from ride noise control to community sound studies to lighting design to audiovisual systems design.

Littoral Warfare Training Center - This is a Situation Ready room for when command staff review training for use of new warfare equipment and technologies. Because of the room’s security requirements we designed cell phone blockers and other acoustical treatments. The rest of the AV was really cool but… if we told you…..

Forsyth Detention Center - This project resulted from our project management services for the Forsyth County Council Chambers project. The Detention Center opened in the late 1990’s, with a handful of cameras to watch over the 800 beds, visitors, and detainees in the facility. Now with quite a few more cameras and monitoring points, the staff at the Center can complete their job more efficiently and much more safely. This was one of our largest security projects to date.

A&T Greensboro Craig Hall - This was a renovation and a new addition to the existing math and science building. The facility included 30 plus classrooms with state of the art audiovisual technology; acoustical and technology upgrades to the attached Paul Robeson Theatre building; and complete IT data and telecom cabling. This was one of those milestone projects, launching our IT / Data Telecom services. While we had provided those services in the past to clients, on smaller levels, this was the one that proved our capabilities – and now those efforts look easy!

John W. Pope, Jr. Convocation Center - Campbell University needed a new space for graduation ceremonies and other campus wide events, including hosting the basketball team and other court sports. The acoustical design addressed the reverberation control, but care was taken not to make it too quiet for the home team advantage. The sound system was designed to allow for quick reconfigurations of the signal routing to change from court sports to presentations to support for concerts.

Macy’s Bloomingdales and Other Federated Stores - All in all, over 50 projects for Federated were completed. Services included updating and rolling out new audio standards throughout their flagship stores, prior to the merger with the May Company. In one week, we visited 12 stores, in 5 states to commission the new systems.

Kaiser Santa Clara Replacement Hospital - This project was active on our books for over 12 years. In that time, we worked with the rest of the design team on a number of different designs until the needs of Kaiser and the programs settled down. In the end, the campus had a parking garage and loading dock area that required noise control along the adjacent residential lot line; the heliport noise needed addressing, for both the patient rooms in the hospital, as well as the adjacent residents; the MOB and central plant were also areas of concerns.

LEGOLAND – This project is the work of our new partner, Patrick Gallegos of Gallegos Lighting. For this 35-acre themed experience he provided lighting for all of the interior and exterior architecture and attractions. One of the neat aspects is that flickering firelight and blue moonlight defines the lighting and helps to provide depth and life to the Castle, the centerpiece of the medieval Castle Hill area of this California theme park.

Cerritos Library – Another project from our lighting studio’s prior experience is the Cerritos Library in Cerritos, CA. The children’s library portion of this amazing “Library for the 21st Century” incorporates an indoor ‘weatherdome’ which simulates diurnal and storm cycles, achieved through the careful integration and programming of red-blue-green color sources, theatrical and projected lighting effects.

Not all of our projects are big, for example during one project meeting a team member remarked that his wife had just bought a fish tank and had filled it with fish. The tank was located in the living room, and on the other side of the wall from the niche that held the tank was the head of his bed. The problem was the small circulating pump was just too noisy. He told us the size of the footprint of the pump. We had a sample of a vibration isolation pad about the right size. He tried it and said it did not work. It turned out the pump was too light. So we found an old brick that had been used in college, as a book end. We sat it on the pad and then the pump on the brick. The outcome - a happy couple! She got to keep the fish and he got to sleep with the fish without the noise and vibration from the pump. All we needed was a little mass for that inertia base to work. Yes, this was a small project, but it was very rewarding.

We hope you have enjoyed our trip down memory lane…we cannot wait until we turn 20!

In our educational programs we joke around that we have never met a floor box that we liked. That is usually because someone pulled the wrong wire to the box, or it is not in the correct location, or it was used as a dust pan! However, FSR has stepped up to the challenge, year in and year out. FSR is a manufacturer of a wide variety of products including floor, wall, table, and ceiling boxes specializing in AV connectivity needs. Their new FL-G series floor boxes are designed for flexibility, durability and style. These rugged units safely handle the rigors of high traffic floor environments, and they can easily be installed in poured concrete applications.

The really neat point – both models have a 2.5 inch deep back box with the added ability to route wiring between adjacent compartments. This lets them be used in almost all floor slab systems, with conduit coming in from all sides making installation much easier. They also have a scrub water-safe cover. So when a poke through is not an option, or you need more capacity than a poke through, special fire proofing is likely not required.

The FL-G series floor boxes offer flexibility, durability and style for many applications. For more information visit: http://www.fsrinc.com/floorBoxes.htm